Many Faceted
God is a bit like a diamond. If you hold a diamond one way, you see particular colours. But move it, even a little, and the colours change. God doesn’t change, but there are times when He chooses to emphasise a particular part of His character. And then He can turn around and emphasise another part, which to us almost seems contradictory.
This is what He did to Moses when Moses was up on Mount Sinai and the people in the camp below made a golden calf. God told Moses what was happening and then said to him ‘Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation’ (Exodus 32:9,10).
Moses’ response is to remind God of His promises to Abraham some 600 years earlier about giving Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan and telling God that His honour in the sight of other nations would be ruined (Exodus 32:11-13).
The scripture then simply says ‘The Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened’ (v.14). Couldn’t God make up His mind?
I think God knew exactly what was happening. When He threatened to destroy the nation, God showed the colours of holiness, righteousness, justice and anger against flagrant sin. When He responded after Moses’ intercession, He showed the colours of mercy, compassion and grace.
All these traits are part of who our amazing God is. There’s no contradiction. At the cross, thankfully, all the colours blended together as the diamond was turned full circle.
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