He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. (Psalm 103:7-8)
After the Golden Calf debacle, Moses pleaded with the Lord to help him understand how to better lead the people. He prayed, “If I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You” (Exodus 33:19). To this request the Lord responded, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you” (Exodus 33:19). Indeed, the Lord appeared to Moses and showed him His goodness and His way, which is to say He revealed to him the path of righteousness and the patterns the people of God were to follow.
While this obviously included the pattern for the Sanctuary, it also included the pattern for everyday life — what to do and what not to do in order to please the Almighty. For the individual and the people of God as a whole, His pattern reveals how we are to live in order to fulfill His purpose for our life. Consequently, the pattern includes what happens when we fulfill His plan — the subsequent blessing — and what happens when we go our own way. In other words, His blessings and His judgments are not arbitrary and unpredictable; they faithfully follow the pattern that He made known to Moses.
Nothing God orchestrates for His people, or even allows to occur to His people, is haphazard — everything follows the pattern He has established. I would suggest this includes the trying seasons we are compelled to endure; as it is written, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). What good could possibly come from tests, trials and suffering? Scripture is clear on the matter — we grow in our faith and learn to persevere. But it is also during those seasons of difficulty that we experience the Lord’s grace, mercy and faithfulness. That is, in fact, what He promised to reveal to Moses when He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you.” So let us keep this in mind when we are facing hardship; it’s part of the pattern we are compelled to follow so that we may see the goodness of God.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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