Good morning, and happy Sunday.

In Exodus 14, God guides the Israelites across the Red Sea, away from Pharaoh and his army. With freedom at last, the Israelites break out into worship.

Unfortunately, the celebration doesn’t last long, and in only a matter of days, the Israelites become ungrateful and begin grumbling.

But, regardless of their behavior, God tells Moses His intention to set them apart as His “treasured possession” so long as they obey Him (Exod. 19:5-5-6), to which the Israelites reply, “We will do everything the Lord has said” (Exod. 19:8).

Would that it were so simple…

For forty days and nights, Moses spends time with God on Mount Sinai to discuss the terms of a new covenant God would like to establish. At the end of it all, Moses walks away with two tablets of stone to show for.

Can you imagine the excitement Moses must’ve felt to finally share all the wonderful things God’s revealed to him during forty days of solitude?

Unfortunately, down below, the Israelites had become impatient and thought something might have happened to Moses. So, with all logic out the door, they decide to make a golden calf and worship this thing by saying, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt” (Exod. 32:3).

What insanity: worshiping a golden calf after all God had done!

So, when Moses comes down, he absolutely loses it by “breaking [the tablets] to pieces at the foot of the mountain” (Exod. 32:19). I would’ve probably done the same.

Soon after, once the dust settles, Moses returns to Mount Sinai to reconvene with God. And there, we get a glimpse of God’s sincere heart for His people and the encouragements therein.

Without further ado, let’s get into the Word.

If anyone crosses your mind as you read, I encourage you to put your faith into action by forwarding this post along, perhaps coupled with a loving word of encouragement. You just may make someone’s day without knowing it.

The Word of God

The 1-2-3 of What I Found Encouraging

1. God hears us

After the whole golden calf debacle, Moses was distraught. After all, his primary companion and brother, Aaron, had led the people to worship the golden calf while he was away.

In his debrief later with God, Moses pleads for the Israelites and makes a request: “Now show me your glory” (Exod. 33:18).

A bold ask one may say.

The truth of the matter is, throughout the journey of Exodus, Moses comes to build a special relationship with God; the Bible says, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exod. 33:11).

In response to Moses’ request, not only does God reveal Himself by passing him by in the fullness of His glory, but He also reveals His very nature by stating:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of their parents to the third and fourth generation.”

To have the privilege of witnessing God’s glory and hearing God express Himself in such an intimate way, I wonder the inexplicable awe Moses must’ve felt.

Though all-powerful and almighty, God does not sit on an ivory tower to distance Himself from us. In fact, Jesus famously said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

And therein, I find comfort and encouragement in knowing God hears us and is eager for us to engage with Him.

2. God longs to be with us

When Adam and Eve committed the original sin, we were separated from God.

By the same token, God was separated from us, whom He loves deeply. In our journey of walk, we must not forget God is a personal and loving God with emotions.

Even as Adam and Eve were being banished from the Garden of Eden, “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). He expressed His love by clothing them, because God knew they had become aware of the shamefulness of being naked after eating the forbidden fruit.

From then on, despite our sins that separate us from Him, God has persistently found ways to be near us.

Take a look at what God revealed to Moses: “I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them” (Exod. 29:45-46).

Tying back to today’s verse, even though the Israelites had literally broken the covenant right after it was established by worshiping an idol, God assures Moses He’ll be with him by sharing: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world.”

Throughout the entire Bible, there is a recurring theme of God cutting through chaos and darkness to find us in our vulnerable state in order to love on us and comfort us.

No matter what I may think or feel, the truth of the matter is: God longs to be with me.

3. God loves us more than we can imagine

In verses 6 through 7, God shares how He’s compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love, and forgiving.

He also shows zero tolerance for the guilty. In fact, He says He’ll punish the children of the guilty down to their fourth generation.

I used to find the coexistence of love and punishment paradoxical.

I have now come to learn that God has to hate sin, because He is love.

When I read about the Israelites in the past, I used to scoff at how shortsighted they were to fall short of God’s glory time and time again.

But lately, I have been reminded of my own shortcomings in the Israelites’ flaws.

Countless times have I confessed to God that His grace is sufficient and that Jesus is all I need— only to turn around and let my thoughts be held captive by my own desires and Satan’s temptations.

But the beauty of it all is that none of what the Israelites nor I have done has stopped our Father from loving His own.

Paul says in Romans 3:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Through the love of Jesus that is our strength and the New Covenant in Jesus that fulfills the Old Covenant made with Moses, the following Word of God still stands in the gospel that lives and breathes today:

“Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you” (Exod. 34:10).

My Encouragement for You

I encourage you, my beloved, to embrace the fact that God hears you, longs to be with you, and loves you more than you can imagine.

Let us seek God’s heart above our own like Moses did and train our eyes, our hearts, and our minds to see the way Jesus does.

God is still at work, doing wonders never done before for us to be a part of.

With love, Jae

Got any prayer requests or praises? You’re welcome to share them here.

“Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

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