Today’s reading teaches us much about God’s interactions with man.
It shows us what God’s forgiveness looks like. What can you learn? Did you note the fact that although the people had every reason to expect God to leave them then and there because they had already broken the covenant, He nevertheless ordered Moses to lead them into the Promised Land, referring to the covenant He had made with Abraham? Did you note that God still intended to drive out the inhabitants of the land on their behalf? Did you note that He intended for them to suffer the consequences of their sin for their own protection? Did you note that He relented when Moses asked Him to, for the sake of relationship with them?
It teaches us that we can go ever deeper in our knowledge of and intimacy with God. Moses had been meeting with God face to face as no one since Adam and Eve had; he had met with God for forty days on the mountain; and he had received God’s testimony, that He had known Moses by name, which indicates intimacy. All this, and yet Moses asked God, “let me know Your ways.” Moses appealed to Him on the basis of God’s saying that Moses had found favor His sight, requesting a greater knowledge of His ways so that he might find favor in God’s sight. Then Moses made a most bold request: to be shown God’s glory! But God wasn’t offended; in fact, He made accommodation for Moses’ human limitations so that he could witness God’s glory.
So what does God’s glory look like? Note God’s answer to Moses’ request, and learn what God’s chosen manifestation of His glory looks like. What does it teach you about God? What does the fact that showing His glory, in part, means proclaiming His name, teach you about the significance to God of knowing a name? What can you conclude about the fact that no one can see God and live? Contemplate prayerfully today the question, How does God want me to know Him more deeply today?