Hidden in the Cleft of the Rock
If someone asked you to describe God in one sentence, what would you say? And where did you learn to say it?
“Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,”Exodus 34:6
Exodus 34 comes right after one of Israel's worst moments. At the foot of Sinai, only weeks after hearing God's voice, the people melted down their gold into a calf and bowed to it. The covenant lay broken, as broken as the stone tablets Moses smashed at the bottom of the mountain. Afterward Moses asked for something bold: "Please show me your glory" (Exodus 33:18). God answered that no one could see his face and live. But he would put Moses in a cleft of the rock, cover him with his hand, and pass by. So early one morning Moses climbed back up carrying two new stone tablets he had cut himself, and he stood in a crack in the mountain's face while the Lord came down in the cloud.
What Moses received was not mainly a sight but a name. "Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.'" The Hebrew word behind "loving kindness" is hesed. It is hard to carry into English because it holds love and loyalty together: the steadfast, covenant-keeping kindness of someone who has bound himself to you and will not let go. Here it is paired with emet, faithfulness or truth, as if to say this love can be leaned on. Notice the timing. God defines his own character to a people who had just broken faith with him. These words became something like Israel's creed. They echo through Numbers, Nehemiah, the Psalms, Joel and Jonah, as generation after generation returned to what God said about himself at the cleft of the rock.
We all carry a working description of God, pieced together from parents, churches, disappointments and headlines. For some, God is mostly a scorekeeper. For others, a distant idea, or a mood that shifts with how well we are doing. Exodus 34:6 doesn't argue with those pictures so much as stand quietly beside them. God chose to introduce himself not after Israel's best day but after its worst, and the first things he wanted known were mercy, grace, patience and a love that keeps its promises. In a world where loyalty is often conditional and kindness is easily withdrawn, the God of Sinai names himself abundant in a love that stays. It is worth asking whether the God we picture is the one who spoke there, or one we have drawn ourselves.
Write down the words you would honestly use to describe God right now. Then set them beside Exodus 34:6. Where do they agree, and where does your picture of God need to be reshaped by the sound of his own voice?
Lord, you hid Moses in the rock and covered him with your hand, and then you told him who you are. I confess that I often describe you by my fears more than by your word. Let me hear your name again: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abundant in steadfast love and faithfulness. Teach my heart to rest in the love that kept covenant even when your people did not. Amen.