Read: Psalm 103:1-8; Exodus 33:18–34:6
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps. 103:8)
Moses wanted to see God. “Show me your glory,” he had asked. “No,” the Lord replied, “you can’t see that. No one can see my face and live. But I’ll place you in the cleft of a rock, cover you with my hand, and show you my back” (see Exod. 33:18-23). This really is a most remarkable scene! God has a face? A hand? A back? What is this story trying to convey? Moses’s great desire was to know more of God; actually, to know all of God. But no human can know God as God knows himself. We will spend all of eternity learning more and more of God, and still there will be more to him than we can ever know.
Although we cannot know God fully, we can know him truly. The next day, the Lord told Moses to get more tablets and come back up the mountain. There he appeared once more in the cloud of glory. God couldn’t show Moses his face, but he could show Moses his goodness (Exod. 33:19). “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’ ” (Exod. 34:6).
I have a friend, a professor of Hebrew, who calls Exodus 34:6 the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. It is quoted, not just in Psalm 103, but in more places throughout the Old Testament than any other verse. If you know this, you truly know all you need to about God.
As you pray, ask God to help you know him truly.
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including God of My Days,Why Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
