But for Your Mercy

But for Your Mercy
Words of Faith 3-14-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 33
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' [2] I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. [3] Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."
[4] When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. [5] For the Lord had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.'" [6] So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

It was time to resume the journey to the Land of Promise. A great deal had happened up to this point!
The Lord God had redeemed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. With a mighty hand, He had destroyed their enemies. The Lord had given His Law to Moses both as ten commands and also as an elaboration of those laws. The Lord had described His plan for a Tabernacle of worship for the people where He would communicate with them. But the people had rebelled by building a golden calf! Good heavens! What were they thinking? Moses had cleansed the camp of all who were unrepentant. Now it was time to move on.
But the Lord said a startling thing. God told Moses that he and the people should go on toward the Promised Land without Him! An angel would accompany them to defeat their enemies, and they would proceed to the land flowing with milk and honey, but God would no longer travel with them.
The people were obviously distressed. They were promised His protection and guidance by an angel, but not His personal presence. The change was because God would be inclined to destroy them. The people had proven to be unfaithful. For such an intimate journey, God did not want another situation where He might have to destroy them! So God commanded the people to remove their ornaments as He decided what to do with them.
Here we have a fascinating and powerful glimpse into the nature of the human relationship with God. We are reminded that although the Lord God is full of loving-kindness toward His people, He is still holy. The Israelites had breached a number of the commands of God before the dust had settled from the tablets! God had already expressed his loving grace by not destroying the whole group. Now the Lord had to decide whether to continue traveling with these people and risk destroying them because of their sin.
We might read this and hear it as if God has a problem with unresolved anger. In fact, it was simply a practical matter that God's nature is holy. God would not personally accompany the Israelites if they continued in sin. It was too dangerous a matter. The journey would become exceedingly hazardous if the Israelites continued to refuse the guidance and statutes of God.
What does this tell us about God? Sometimes we become very "chummy" with God and forget that He is... God. He is holy. He is absolutely pure. He cannot look upon sin or abide in the presence of sin. The wonderful thing for us is that God chose to "travel with us" in the person of Jesus! And the Lord chose to pay an enormous price to make that possible. Because of Jesus' death, the Lord looks at us and sees not our rebellion but the righteousness of Jesus. Without this, travel with God would be very dangerous.
This extraordinary provision should not give us cause to sin. We must resist the temptation to be so "chummy" with God that we forget His holiness. God has provided for our sin, but we must not treat that great sacrifice with disdain. We do so when we treat our own sin lightly, pleasantly, or casually. The radical price paid by Jesus calls us to deal radically with the sin in our own lives.
No, God is not telling us today that it is dangerous for Him to travel with us. We need not fear destruction. But we do need carefully walk with great thanksgiving that the Lord God has made a way at a high cost so that we may journey with Him.

Lord God, thank You! I thank You that You have made a way to be with me. You have overcome and overwhelmed the power of sin in my life. Give me grace to walk with You where it would have been dangerous but for Your mercy. In Jesus' Name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.