Exodus

Exodus 34:6,7

‘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 fourth generation’

Timeless Truth = The Gospel is both beautiful and offense, it must be both. God is merciful but also unashamedly righteous…

This passage stuck out to me like a lightning bolt, God declaring who he is. I realize in my own life that I often fail to see the two sides to God’s nature, realizing that I want to only look at the merciful side. The reality is that God is indeed righteous and must deal harshly with sin. This is what makes the Gospel so beautiful and so offensive. It awakens me to the reality that my sin stinks and somehow someone has to take the hit for it. My sin has real consequences, my sin is appalling to God, and considering how much I sin I really don’t know how the heck he can deal with me. The amazing reality is that God has dealt with my sin on the cross with Jesus. This is the beautiful part that I fear that I would take for granted. The reality of God’s wrath towards me being displaced is no small thing. The reality is that blood must be shed for my iniquity… and it has been. How thankful ought I be for that! Yeah, it breaks my heart to realize that I walk around like God owes me something when the reality is that I am truly indebted to Jesus because I do not have to fear God’s wrath. I would love to say that I have this reverence in my life for what Jesus has done for me but the reality is that I often walk wanting more. Most of the time I live like the next breath is owed to me when the reality is that I deserve God’s wrath. Yeah, it is quite humbling to see God’s character and then to see that I am not heartbroken by the great grace that he has given to me.