Name of God - El Racham: The Compassionate God
El Racham: The Compassionate God
Daily Verse: “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,”
☆ Exodus 34:6 NIV
Let's Talk About It: I first want to say WOW! Just picturing what this moment in Scripture must have been like sends joy and a wow factor at the same time. Let’s paint the scene leading up to Exodus 34:6. God, through Moses, lead His people out of Egypt and they left with riches that previously belonged to the Egyptians. God engraved with His own finger, laws/commandments on two stone tablets.
While Moses was in the presence of the Lord, Moses’ brother and the Israelite people grew inpatient and formed a golden calf from the gold jewelry they acquired when leaving Egypt and began to worship it. (Skipping ahead a bit) Moses goes down the mountain to the Israelites, with the tablets God personally inscribed on. After seeing the blasphemy that was taking place, Moses became enraged and threw the stone tablets down…shattering them. Let’s stop here for a moment.
Have you ever put your all into something? Have you ever poured your love into a project for someone and in return was shown little care for it by the receiver, as if it was meaningless? What was your reaction? How did it make you feel? What if the person apologized, would you spend time to redo the same project with the same amount of passion?
We read in Exodus, that God received such reaction. Racham (Raw- kahm’) is a Hebrew word that means to love; to have compassion, be compassionate. Sympathetic, warm-hearted, and merciful are just some of the words that mean the same as compassionate. In chapter 34 of Exodus, we read that not only does God show forgiveness, He also instructs Moses to come back up the mountain and He will walk pass him, showing His glory.
In addition, God personally inscribed again, His laws/commandments on two stone tables. When He walked pass Moses, God proclaimed that He Himself is compassionate and gracious. As believers, we know that one of the characteristics of God is that He can not lie. In this moment, Moses can testify that what God proclaimed is true. Moses witnesses firsthand that He serves a compassionate God and now even more, knows Him as El Racham.
Before making the decision to follow God, I was involved with many things that displeased God and did them without remorse. Some of things I did, I knew better, and some I had an idea that it might be wrong. As I look back, I see that God has shown countless times, compassion towards me when I deserved the total opposite. If I was to stand beside Moses today, I could truly join him in testimony that God is compassionate and that I too know Him as El Racham. Take a quick trip down memory lane, friends. How has God proven and shown you compassion when you deserved worse? We serve an AWESOME GOD! – Kevin