Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 33 before reading the devotional below.
God makes me feel better as a parent. Sometimes his kids make him so frustrated he can’t even travel with them or he just might kill them. (Said every parent after every road trip ever…) Rebellion damages relationships. God is only willing to walk with Moses at the moment, and even Moses needs a little reassurance from God given the strain of the relationship between God and his people. Notice the reaction of the people when they see God’s anger at their rebellion: they enter a time of mourning and repentance.
Moses asks to see God directly, something that would normally be fatal to any human. God agrees that he will pass by, but Moses cannot look directly at his face. God tells Moses to hide in the crevice of a rock, and as he passes by he will use his hand to cover Moses’ eyes. Moses can only look upon God after he has gone by. We don’t really find out what this was like — perhaps it was an experience too incredible for words.
Here’s your freedom for today: God honors both obedience and repentance. Sometimes we think that God sits up there shaking his head in disappointment at us. If we could just be “good enough” maybe he’d be happy. But that describes conditional love (“If you are good then I love you”), which is the opposite of God’s character. His love is unconditional. How do we understand that in light of his anger in this passage? Notice that God’s people turn to mourning and repentance. God honored Moses’ obedience, but he also honored the people’s repentant hearts. Their sin separated them from God (even more than it already had), but repentance turned their hearts around to get back on the right track. God does not shame or condemn you. His love does not end even when sin divides you from him. God always opens the door for you to come back to him.