Toward Mainly Thankful
This Sunday we’re looking at Exodus 34:1–9 — focusing on verses 5–7. If Exodus 33–34 mark a mountain-peak section of the Old Testament, 34:6 is its highest point. I’ve stared at it with wonder this week, challenged by it in some real ways. God willing, we’ll spend maybe 80% of the sermon there, which means there’s a lot more to say about verses 8–9 than I’ll be able to get to. So, here you go:
The outline of the text is straightforward: God reveals his glory (verses 1–7) and Moses responds (verses 8–9).
In Moses’s response, most of our attention naturally goes to verse 9, because it’s the longer verse, and because it’s the second time that Moses is petitioning God on Israel’s behalf (see Exodus 32:11–13) — though, this time, in light of God’s revelation, Moses asks him to forgive Israel’s sin. Now that Moses knows Yahweh is merciful, he has confidence to ask for mercy. There is a lot more to say here, but for now I want to highlight verse 8, which sort of gets snuck in, almost too easy to miss:
And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
This is Moses’s first response after Yahweh has proclaimed his name. Which means that before Moses petitions God, he praises him. Before he asks, he adores.
This is not a prescription, necessarily.
Don’t think that this is the way you must pray at all times.
And especially don’t think you must pray this way in order for God to hear you. I say this for my fellow neurotic brothers and sisters, who, like me, can get snagged over something like this — as if “praising God” is somehow a tax on prayer to ensure that your requests get answered. That’s not right, so I want to derail that train of thought right away.
And yet, at the same time, we might all admit that we in our own praying it’s easier to petition God than to praise him. We often have the things that we need on the tips of our tongue, and if we’re going to pray, how can we not bring those things to our Father? We should, always. Don’t stop doing that. But I think we all should seek to grow in prayers of adoration, in prayers of praise to God from our closets. Rather than jump to the list of things you long to see him do, stop and consider the things that he has done, things that are grounds for praise.
What are some things that you can think God for?
Can you name five?
“There are countless things in our lives right now that could go terribly wrong, and which, if they did, we would beg God for them to go back to how they are right now, although right now it never crosses our mind to thank God for them.”
Try this: There are countless things in our lives right now that could go terribly wrong, and which, if they did, we would beg God for them to go back to how they are right now, although right now it never crosses our mind to thank God for them.
It never crosses my mind now to thank God for my hands, and that I have all my fingernails — but how badly would they be missed if they were gone? What about the fact that right now my lower back doesn’t hurt, or that I am able to write an (I hope) intelligible sentence. I can read! Can you? When was the last time that we thanked God for the ability to read? Have you seen the sunrises recently?
How many things do we assume?
After being confronted with the glory of God, Moses, before anything else, put his face to the ground in worship.
Our lives are saturated with gifts from God that should humble us to silence — gifts that, when recognized, lead us to be mainly thankful. Isn’t that an honest life in light of God’s grace? — that we’re just thankful, mainly … if we would just slow down and consider.
