Published 12/17/19
Read Exodus 34:6-7
"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.'"
Reflect
How many words would it take to accurately describe you? How much time would someone need to get a good idea of who you are?
It takes a long time to get to know someone. And the more you know about someone, the harder it is to describe them in simple short phrases like "he's fun-loving," or, "she's a good friend." It just doesn't do a person justice to leave their character so shallow in the mind of someone else. "He's fun-loving, but he can be serious when he needs to be. Though sometimes he comes across as really blunt, people respect him for that because they know he's being honest."
The point is, human beings are incredibly complex creatures and none of us can be reduced to simple descriptions. The same is even more true about God, yet people do it all the time. "God is love," "God is indifferent to humanity," "God is wrathful," "God is king," "God provides everything I need." Then, once a person has decided what God is for them, everything else they hear about Him is forced into that template. But could God actually be all of these things at the same time?
It's always been hard to comprehend a God this big. How can the God who is "slow to get angry and full of unfailing love" (Psalm 103:8, NLT), be the same God whose "rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence" (Nahum 1:6, NLT)? The same way your fun-loving friend sometimes gets serious or a generally calm person will occasionally throw a fit. God's a complex character just like you or your friends.
Take some time to get to know Him. God hasn't made it hard to find out about Him, in fact, the Bible is filled with detail after detail about His character. The facts may not fit at first glance, but spend some time with Him, let God tell you who He is.
Pray
Lord Jesus, thank You for desiring a relationship with me. Help me to draw closer to You. Amen.