Oh God, Show Me Your Ways

October 10 2011, 7:52 am | Clara Jones

            Not long ago, when I was talking with some friends about some of the natural disasters that have been taking place around the world and about why God allows such things to happen, I was rather taken back by a statement that one of them made.  He said that he didn’t even try to understand the ways of God, that he was afraid to even go there for fear of what he might find out.  I have thought much about his comment, and it has reminded me of what the Israelites said to Moses in Exodus 20:18-19:  “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear.  They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen.  But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’ ” Moses, however, told God to teach him His ways (Exodus 33, verse 13) and to show him His glory (verse 18).  In answer, God revealed Himself to Him, passing in front of him and proclaiming to him what He was like (Exodus 34:5-7): “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 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.”  Moses spoke with God face to face, as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11), and he learned that God was a compassionate, gracious, merciful God who was slow to anger and abounding in love, but the Israelites were unable to find out what He was truly like.   Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.”  (You can see that the description of God in verses 8-18 of Psalm 103 is an expanded description of God’s compassionate, gracious ways as He described them to Moses in Exodus 34.)  The Israelites were only able to see the deeds of God because they did not seek to know his ways.  The Israelites were afraid of God, and fear keeps us from intimacy with God.  We cannot find refuge in a God we are afraid of.   In Hebrews 3:8-11, the Holy Spirit says that for forty years the Israelites saw what He did but they hardened their hearts and their hearts were always going astray, and they did not know His ways.  So He declared in His anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”  If I do not know God’s ways, I will never be able to enter His rest.  Jesus said, “Come to me…and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls.”  (See Matthew 11:28-30.)  When we desire to understand God’s ways and seek after Him, we learn that He is gentle with us and humble of heart, and we find rest for our souls.  We find that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence to help us in our time of need.  (See Hebrews 3:12-4:16).

         “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me…”   (Psalm 25:4-5)  “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.  All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.”  (See Psalm 25:8-10.)  “Teach me your way, O Lord…you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:11, 15)

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