Our Compassionate Father

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, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Exodus 34: 6-7 NIV)
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103: 8-12 NIV)

Moses is facing the huge challenge of leading the people of Israel away from Egypt and towards the Promised Land. Not an easy task by any standard! It certainly wasn't helped by the people's unwillingness or their rebellion. In his desperation, Moses needed an encounter with the Lord. He needed to know who, and what, was going to enable him to do this impossible job. 

It would be easy to say the people needed strong and decisive leadership or that they needed a rule book to help them through. Maybe they needed a master or an army office to give them orders. 

In Moses' encounter with the Lord he receives a revelation of the nature and personality of God the Father. Firstly he is compassionate, then gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. God reveals himself to his people in the only way he could: as a loving Father. A theme later repeated by the Psalmist. 

And this is how he continues to reveal himself to us. His compassion is stirred within him and so anger and judgement are put to one side as we are drawn into the arms of a compassionate Father. He is loving us with immeasurable love that is totally unrelated to anything we have done or tried to be.