An Image of the Divine

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

✙ Exodus 33:19

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The God that Moses dealt with was basically unknown and even unknowable. We read the story of Israel's exodus and wilderness wanderings, and we judge them for their unfaithfulness. But I doubt we could have done much better. The faith that God had called them to was a mature one—much more mature than that of any other people. They had no images or idols to fall back on when their faith failed them. Even their ritual was all but nonexistent. Their relationship with the One who had led them out of bondage was solely based on faith.

Since the day of Moses, human nature has not changed. Nor, certainly, has the nature of God. And yet God has given us a perfect image of the Divine. In Jesus Christ, we see not only God's righteousness in action, but also the extent of God's love for us. Thus, in Christ, our conception of who God's people are is also transformed. God's grace is not reserved for the perfect and for those who are already righteous, but for those who are unable to achieve such righteousness on their own. In other words, the unknown and unknowable God has made God's self known to me and saved me from myself.

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You know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

✙ 2 Corinthians 8:9

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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O Lord, who does not despair of the most ignorant and unworthy, heal and save and teach me.

✙ F.B. Meyer

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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Text selection ©2021 Evangelische Brüder-Unität. All scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.