God's Character

In response to Moses' request for God to show him his glory, (Exodus 33:18) our Heavenly Father instead chose to reveal to him his character. As sinful people, we cannot fully see his glory. We can only know him by what he does and how he acts.

Accordingly, God's response to Moses was "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 will clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:6-7).

The message here is clear: God is faithful and merciful. He stands ready to forgive us. He is abundantly patient with those who seek him. But make no mistake, God hates evil and will not overlook unrepentant sin. As God's men, we must keep our sin accounts short and confess and forsake known sin in our lives. Our sinful actions, as well as our godly influence, impact our children and generations to come.

The bottom line is that we cannot comprehend God as he is apart from Jesus Christ, who promised to show himself to those who believe (John 14:9-21). The only way we can clear our guilty status before the Father is by claiming the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who paid our sin debt and reconciled us to Him.