God Introduces Himself

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad to have you with me today. This is By God's Call — day 28, God Introduces Himself.

"The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.'" Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7.

To feel the weight of this verse, you need to know where it happens. It isn't just any day. It's right after the golden calf — right after Israel, with the echo of the Ten Commandments still in their ears, built an idol and worshiped it as though it were God. It was the most painful betrayal possible, at the worst possible moment. And it's exactly there, in the middle of that wound, that God chooses to introduce Himself. Not after everything got resolved. Right there, in the middle of the breach.

And look how He begins: "The LORD, the LORD." The name repeated twice. This isn't empty literary style — it's emphasis, a direct call, almost as if God is saying: pay attention to who I am, because you're going to need to remember this.

And then comes the list — every word carrying its own weight, each one deserving its own pause. "Merciful and gracious." "Slow to anger." That phrase describes someone who takes a deep breath before reacting — "slow" doesn't mean God never gets angry; it means He doesn't react quickly, that He gives room, that He is patient in the face of a real offense. "Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" — not an occasional love, but an overflowing, constant one.

And then this phrase that always catches me: "keeping steadfast love for thousands." Thousands of generations of mercy. Think about the reach of that. God's goodness extends far beyond anything we can imagine — far beyond, even, the reach of the consequence He mentions in the very same breath.

Because God doesn't hide the other half of the truth. He says He "will by no means clear the guilty." He doesn't pretend sin is harmless, that rebellion carries no weight, that wickedness can be swept under the rug without consequence. The same God who forgives is the God who takes justice seriously. And that, my friend, isn't a contradiction — it's the fullness of God's character. Mercy without justice would be indifference. Justice without mercy would be destruction. God is both at once, in perfect harmony.

And that's exactly where the cross enters the picture. It was at the cross that God's mercy and justice finally met without any contradiction at all. Jesus bore the punishment that justice demanded, so that mercy could reach you and me without violating who God is. This verse in Exodus 34 is, in a sense, a prophecy of Calvary, written centuries before it happened.

So, my friend, when you feel unworthy — after a mistake, after a fall, after a day where you built your own private golden calf — remember: it was right after that kind of failure that God chose to reveal Himself this way. The revelation of His character doesn't wait for you to get clean. It arrives in the middle of your mess.

So today, here is the call: before breakfast, read Exodus 34:6-7 out loud. Not rushed — slowly, word by word. Let it be a proclamation of who God is for you, today, exactly where you stand.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.