5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 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, 7 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 parents to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7

Moses is continuing to get a lot of “mountain top” experiences with the Lord Himself. This time, however, He began with a list of His attributes. It’s not stated this time, but the Lord probably sheltered Moses from seeing Him as He did in the previous chapter in the cleft of the rock. We know that Moses was transfigured by His presence because Moses glows brightly later in the chapter.

What was it like going from speaking with the Lord Himself and trying to resolve the messes the Israelites were getting themselves into? On the other hand, what was it like being a mere servant of God to radiating brightly in front of the Hebrews?

God is compassionate and gracious. He endeared Himself to Moses like no other before him. Moses even wrote, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”

He has the same compassion and grace available for us as well. We could speak to Him as a friend and enjoy that kind of companionship if we desired, and some of us do.

He longs to teach us and hear about our woes and joys. He knows about them already of course, but He wants us to talk about them. He won’t force us to, but He wants us to.