Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 32 (New Living Translation)

⁹ Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.” ¹¹ But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand?

¹⁹ When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.

In the first verses above, the LORD was angry with His chosen people. He advises Moses to stand back so he won’t be burned when the LORD destroys the people.

Moses calms the LORD.

Five minutes later—well, maybe not exactly five minutes later, but not too much later—Moses is angry with the same bunch of people.

This doesn’t say much good about the people. They angered the LORD and then angered Moses. What was wrong with those guys? I suppose they had the same faults that I have; they had the same inexplicable foibles that I have; they had…well, you get the idea.

It is easy to see the faults of others. It is difficult to move past my own faults. And God loved those people anyways. And God loves me anyways. The grace of God is boundless, and I just can’t understand it. Perhaps one day.