Day 25

It is not just the society that we live in, but in the condition of our hearts, that we should be mindful of in how others perceive us. Be it the clothes or make-up that we wear, or the attitudes and actions we project in conversation – we consider how others perceive us. While we are experiencing 40 days of prayer and fasting, we know that we started this journey with heavy consideration on this concept of appearance:
“Whenever you fast, don't be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They've got their reward!” (Matthew 6:16)
As we are God’s creations, we also know that we are a reflection of Him. Does it not then stand to reason that God too is mindful of how we perceive Him? Look at the third of the LORD’s great revelations of His name (YaHWeH) to Moses from Exodus:
“Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed:
Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
This is where the LORD is revealing His character to Moses (and to us). This is where we see the LORD God of Hosts, mindful of how we perceive Him. The first-time God revealed His name to Moses was at the burning bush. There, He assured Moses of His faithfulness to the covenant promises He made to deliver His people from bondage. The second time, at the first delivery of the Ten Commandments, God reminded them of this deliverance (that He had done what He promised):
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2)
Here He also reminded the people of their obligation to the covenant relationship. But by the time God revealed Himself the third time in Exodus 34, the people and Moses had experienced God’s fearsome majesty. They had heard His voice and known the potential for their own depravity. Now they were ready to receive a deeper understanding of the nature of God. Does this resonate at all in our own lives? At what point in our spiritual journeys are we most able to attain a deeper understanding of God? Is it after we have come to grips with, and become aware of, our own sinful nature? In Exodus 34:6-7, God Himself is telling us what He wants us to know about Him. This is what He says “first.”:
“I - YaHWeH (am) a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin.”
He continues to speak of His justice, but by the order of what He says, it is evident that He first wants us to focus on the fact that He is gracious and merciful. This is what God wants us to know “first” about Him. This is God’s mindfulness of how we perceive Him.
Let’s take this one step deeper now. The Old Testament Covenant name for God is seen here as YaHWeH. Now consider how this wonderful truth has been brought to even greater fulfillment in the coming of Jesus. The covenant name, the LORD, has its highest meaning in the name of Jesus! Now get this – because of Jesus, God has a new name: “Father.” In fact, as children adopted into the household of God, we call Him “Abba;” the most intimate word for Father:
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15)
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6)
As God is mindful of how we perceive Him, we too should be mindful of this. Our Abba Father, is the fulfilment of His promised covenant, and He is “compassionate and gracious… slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin.”
-Amen!