First, as a bit of a tangent from what the rest of my post will focus on, isn't this verse just amazing?
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. (33:11).
Apparently Moses didn't literally see His face because just a few verses later Moses asks to see God's glory and the Lord tells him that Moses cannot see His face because no one could see Him and live (33:20). But even so, Moses and God obviously had an intimate relationship, one that was out of reach for the other Israelites. But that intimate relationship is not out of reach for us today! We can have that intimate relationship with God through Jesus' sacrifice for us and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Amazing.
Anyway, on to my main focus of this post.....
Today I want to focus on anger.
The anger in chapters 32 and 33 just leaps off the pages. And rightly so. This is righteous anger, holy anger.
God has just done incredible, miraculous things for the Israelites. And they have just promised to obey everything God had commanded them to do.
And just like that, they flagrantly disobey God as they build an idol to worship, even mixing in burnt offerings and fellowship offerings as a festival to the Lord (32:5-6) - which makes it somehow even worse.
And God is angry.
And in His righteous anger what does He demonstrate? Yes, He demonstrates punishment, discipline and absolute intolerance for this sin.
But He also demonstrates mercy.
He did not kill all the Israelites, though all were deserving of death.
And He did not kill Aaron - the Israelites lone spiritual leader in the absense of Moses, who personally formed the calf and led the people in their idolatrous worship.The seriousness of Aaron's sin is staggering. And then he made up a ludicrous excuse in an absurd attempt to justify his actions (32:22-24).
But God demonstrates mercy. Through Moses, He gives the people one more opportunity to choose to stand for what's right. "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me"
And all the Levites rallied to him. (V26)
I love that. The Levites, the tribe chosen to be priests and spiritual leaders, step up to the plate and choose the right path. They choose to repent of their sin of idolatry and stand for the Lord. Even though taking that stand meant they personally had to administer God's justice against their fellow Israelites.
Sin is so costly. We don't even know. We can't even fathom it, I don't think. We don't understand how absolutely abhorrent our sin is to our holy God. And yet, even in the midst of His righteous anger towards our sin, He demonstrates mercy.
In our NT passage Jesus is angry at the Pharisees' uncaring attitudes, stubborn hearts and absolute lack of compassion for their fellow man. Once again, righteous anger.
And in His anger, Jesus heals.
Mercy and healing in the midst of anger. As a result of anger.
How I need to learn from this!!
What gets me angry?
Usually not the things that should, and lots of things that shouldn't.
I WANT to be angry at sin. I want a heart that abhors sin, that abhors my sin in particular.
And I want to hold other believers accountable through eyes of mercy with the goal of healing.
Lord, fill me with Your righteous anger, mercy and healing.
Tomorrow's passage: Exodus 34-35, Mark 3:20-35
3 comments:
Being angry at sin is so tough in our world where sin is so often made to look humorous, sexy, or perfectly justifiable. We've become so conditioned to the world's view of sin that it often goes virtually undetected, forget making us angry!
Again, I guess we see how important being passionate about holiness is. Pursuing holiness makes us angry at the right things for the right reasons, and gives us the ability to minister God's grace and mercy despite that anger.
Great post, Tammy. I agree 100%.
Great post. I think we have been tainted by the tolerance of sin in our culture and it makes it hard to be angry because everywhere we look sin in being washed over.
One thing that stuck out for me today was this:
14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
This is a huge struggle for me. To rest. To take time to do nothing or to reserve 1 day a week to worship. Reading today that people who do not take the time to observe the Sabbath were put to do death is sobering. I know that Jesus healed on the Sabbath but somehow lesson planning doesn't seem as significant. Also, if God, the creator of all things can take a day to rest, shouldn't I be able to do the same??
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