Thank God for His Mercy!

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Exodus 34:4-7a

A Little Mercy Goes a Long Way

The following story is taken from “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, published in 1936.

Henry Henke, a service manager for a large truck dealership in Lowell, Indiana, had a mechanic named Bill whose work had become less than satisfactory. Instead of yelling or threatening him, Mr. Henke called him into his office and had a heart-to-heart talk with him.

“Bill,” he said, “you are a fine mechanic. You have been in this line of work for a good number of years. You have repaired many vehicles to the customers’ satisfaction. In fact, we’ve had a number of compliments about the good work you have done. Yet, of late, the time you take to complete each job has been increasing and your work has not been up to your own old standards. Because you have been such an outstanding mechanic in the past, I felt sure you would want to know that I am not happy with this situation, and perhaps jointly we could find some way to correct the problem.”

Bill responded that he hadn’t realized he had been falling down in his duties and assured his boss that the work he was getting was not out of his range of expertise and he would try to improve in the future.

Did he do it? You can be sure he did. He once again became a fast and thorough mechanic.

With that reputation Mr. Henke had given him to live up to, how could he do anything else but turn out work comparable to that which he had done in the past. In short, if you want to improve a person in a certain aspect, act as though that particular trait were already one of his or her outstanding characteristics. And it might be good to assume and state openly that other people have the virtue you want them to develop. Give them a fine reputation to live up to, and they will make concentrated efforts rather than see you disillusioned.

With Henke’s mercy, Bill’s attitude changed.

This kind of benevolent heart can change the attitude of others. But God’s mercy has greater power than that because God’s mercy doesn’t just save someone their reputation, or their job. God’s mercy saves human life.

The Law of God begins our relationship with Him

All the way back in Exodus chapter 20, God had written the Ten Commandments directly on two stone tablets and given them to Moses. He then spent the next twelve chapters in Exodus teaching Moses and laying out his law and requirements for the people of Israel. But in Exodus chapter 32, when Moses was descending down from Mount Sinai to rejoin the Israelite camp, he saw the people singing and dancing around an idol of a golden calf, and his anger burned.

Exodus 32:19-20

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

The breaking of the stone tablets in this manner was meant as a symbolic act that demonstrated how Israel had broken their covenant with Jehovah. But in Exodus 34 verse 1, “The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.” This word from God suggested that the broken relationship would be restored.

Sin breaks our relationship with God

The word for “broke” at the end of verse one is ‘Shiber’ in Hebrew, which means ‘to fall apart.’ We can understand from this word that the tablets were not just broken into a few pieces, but completely shattered. Likewise, the relationship between the Israelites and God was completely shattered in that moment.

At this most important moment when God was teaching the Ten Commandments to Moses to give to the people, they were sinning. The Israelites abandoned God and served idols out of impatience and impulsiveness, and when their leader Moses saw it, he threw the very words of God down the mountain in anger.

Now, in this story, be careful about too quickly assuming that you would have been like Moses, in condemning the sinful behavior of the people in holy anger. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, we all would most likely have been in the crowd of idol worshipers, sinning against God, and breaking our covenant with him. Because as sinful human beings, we are no better than they were. How many times have we repeated that same sin in different ways? At the most important moment when God is trying to guide us, or teach us something, how often do we get bored, or impatient, or impulsive, and turn our back on him and sin right in front of him? If we are honest with ourselves, it is far more often than we would like to admit.

So, then what was God’s mood when he saw this behavior of Moses and the Israelites? What is God’s mood when he sees the same kind of behavior in us? We may expect God to judge them (and us) for their sins.

Surprisingly, however, God soon ordered Moses to prepare new stone tablets. If the first stone tablets were symbolic of the covenant between the Israelites and God, then the second set of stone tablets were symbolic of the restoration of that covenant, and the mercy that God had on the people of Israel.

God’s mercy restores our relationship with Him

Exodus 34:2-5

2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.” 4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD.

Verse 3 reminds of the same command God gave Moses in Exodus 19 the first time he ascended the mountain to talk with God.

Exodus 19:12-13

12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, `Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.` Only when the ram`s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.”

This warning is a reminder, though the same rules apply. That’s why it’s in a more concise format than before. But we should be careful not to assume that this means the second time Moses ascends the mountain will just be a repetition of the first. In fact, this second time was a special event in that God has shown his great mercy in response to the sins of the Israelites.

But why did God have mercy on those who sinned? The Bible tells us why.

Exodus 34:6-7

6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

God’s mercy is declared here in verse 6 and is the word ‘Rahum’ in Hebrew. The King James translation of the Bible makes it easier to see this word:

Exodus 34:6b

The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

In the NIV translation, the Hebrew word “rahum” is translated to “compassionate”, but in the KJV translation, it is “merciful.” In any case, this is the same mercy and compassion that God showed the Israelites in Exodus chapter 32 when he did not immediately destroy them for making a golden calf and turning away from him in worship.

God remembered the sins of the Israelites. But, as Exodus 34:6-7 reminds us, he is the LORD, the compassionate, merciful, and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Actually, this same term, “rahum” meaning “merciful” or “compassionate” can also be expressed in motherhood, when a pregnant woman endures extreme pain to give birth and then nurture their child as they grow. God chose Israel as his child, and would not give up on them despite their continual sins.

But, let’s read a little further to understand the true meaning of God’s mercy.

Exodus 34:6-7

6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

God restored the relationship of the covenant broken by the Israelites through his mercy. But at the same time, God made it very clear that there is still a punishment for sin. In other words, in order for the relationship between God and man to work, human beings must take responsibility for their actions.

Nevertheless, the biblical emphasis on mercy is so huge and surprising that the punishment for sins may seem trivial. The merciful and compassionate God ALWAYS forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin IF a repentant person returns to Him.

Jesus Christ is Evidence of God’s mercy

Exodus 34:8-9

8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Moses, who saw the glory of the Lord, bowed down and worshipped God.

Moses humbled himself before God, and held his mercy in high esteem. He acknowledged the stubbornness of the Israelites, whose stubbornness reflects our own, and petitioned God in humility to forgive their sins and continue to accompany them, as we also must do in our own lives.

Moses realized that sinners, which we all are, can do nothing on their own. He also realized that Israel could not move forward without God’s continued mercy.

The Bible contains stories like these about Moses and the Israelites to cause us to reflect on their experiences in comparison with our own lives, and to teach us lessons about the truth of God and his mercy. 

Sometimes we seem to think, wrongly, that we can live without God’s mercy. But without God’s continual mercy and daily patience toward us, our lives will not last.

Jesus, as God’s son, is the visual, physical, manifestation of God’s qualities, including mercy. Let us observe how Jesus treated a person who sinned in the book of John.

John 8:3-7; 10-11

3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Just like the people of Israel in Exodus chapter 32, this woman was caught in sin and brought before God, in the person of Jesus Christ, to answer for her sin. Yet Jesus did not condemn her, but showed her great mercy. The mercy he showed her made the unmerciful teachers of the Law so ashamed that they also left without condemning her.

Jesus saved this woman’s life from criticism, condemnation, and the attack of the people. But, and this is the important point. Even though he showed her great mercy, he did not condone her sin, and he would not allow her to go on living her sinful life. Instead, he encouraged her to “go and sin no more.”

In fact, God hates sin. He cannot tolerate sin because he is wholly good and righteous. But God’s mercy came to us, sinners, through Jesus Christ.

Jesus has become a bright light in the lives of sinners who have no hope. By believing in Jesus as our savior, we can gain freedom from sin. And just as Jesus shows us mercy, he also orders us to be merciful to our neighbors, much in the same way that the truck dealership manager Henry Hanke did for his mechanic, Bill, at the beginning of this sermon. Rather than condemning our neighbors for their mistakes, Jesus has taught us through his word and through his example to be merciful and compassionate to our neighbors and encourage them also to leave their lives of sin. 

As a disciple of Jesus, if we practice his mercy, we will be able to experience a small heaven in our hearts and lives. This is because it is Jesus’ mercy and love that are flowing through us.

Let us thank God for his great mercy for us today!

And let us convey the mercy of God and the love of Jesus to our neighbors!