God’s description of himself

The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. – Exodus 34:6

The prayers of young children show us what they think of God. Here are two I read recently:

"Dear God, what does it mean that You are a ‘jealous’ God? I thought You had everything."

"I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset You made on Tuesday. That was cool."

These children are right to think of God as the owner and creator of everything, the One who can paint beautiful sunsets. But how does God describe Himself?

Moses needed an answer to that question when he was about to lead the Israelites into the wilderness. He wanted to be assured of God’s presence and leading, so he asked Him to reveal Himself (Exodus 33:13,18). In response, God came down in a cloud and said: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth… by no means clearing the guilty" (34:5-7). He is good. He is also just.

We too can know this God. He won’t come down in a cloud, but He has revealed Himself to us in His Word – the Bible. We can ask Him to make Himself real to us as we read and study it. We’ll learn that He is even more than the owner and creator of everything.

– Anne Cetas

Sing praise to God who reigns above,

The God of all creation,

The God of power, the God of love,

The God of our salvation. – Schutz

READ: Exodus 33:18-34:8

In a world of superlatives,

God is the greatest.