[Moses] said, \u201cPlease, show me\u00a0Your glory.\u201d Then He said, \u201cI will make all My\u00a0goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0before you.\u00a0I will be gracious to whom I will be\u00a0gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion\u201d (Exodus 33:18, 19).<\/p>\n
I once viewed this scripture in the restrictive sense, as if God were limiting His grace and compassion. In other words, only a few people are afforded His grace, but not all.<\/p>\n
But the intent of the verse is exactly the opposite. The Lord was explaining His goodness and His mercy to Moses \u2014 saying, in effect, that His grace and compassion were beyond Moses\u2019 understanding.<\/p>\n
The golden calf incident precipitated this conversation. Israel had broken her covenant with Almighty God by worshipping the calf. In Exodus 32:30, Moses told the people their sin was so great, he was not sure God would be willing to forgive them. You see, it was Moses who was doubting the limits of God\u2019s mercy. And he was causing the people of Israel to doubt as well.<\/p>\n
God and Moses spoke face-to-face on Israel\u2019s behalf for the whole of Exodus 33. In that context God said, \u201cI will be gracious to whom I will be\u00a0gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.\u201d God wanted Moses to know that His mercy knows no bounds. His ways are higher than our ways; His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:6-9). While human mercy is limited, God\u2019s mercy is not (Hosea 6:1-6; Matthew 9:9-13). It is greater than we could ask or even imagine. Praise God!<\/p>\n
The Jewish disciples of Jesus had trouble imagining that God\u2019s mercy extended to the unbelieving Gentiles. You can read the raucous dispute about it in Acts 11. Peter explained in detail how God gave the Gentiles the same gift He had given them. Then he said, \u201cWho was I that I could withstand God?\u201d (v.\u202f17).<\/p>\n
They were stunned into silence. In the disciples\u2019 minds, there were limits to God\u2019s mercy. But God will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and He will show compassion to whom He will show compassion. And aren\u2019t you glad He does?<\/p>\n
Time and again, God\u2019s goodness and mercy flow beyond the boundaries we put on them. Are there people in your life that you just cannot forgive? God\u2019s mercy is already there! That is our gracious and merciful God!<\/p>\n
\u201cFor God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all\u201d (Romans 11:32).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Moses] said, \u201cPlease, show me\u00a0Your glory.\u201d Then He said, \u201cI will make all My\u00a0goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0before you.\u00a0I will be gracious to whom I will be\u00a0gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion\u201d (Exodus 33:18, 19). I once viewed this scripture in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1591,"featured_media":30948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2576],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n