The God You're Looking For Study Guide #4 - Steve Hixon

Sermon/Study Guide: The God You're Looking For Author: Steve Hixon Table of Contents	PDF version (190K)	Home

Exodus 33:12 - 34:4
^33:12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' ¹³If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."
^33:14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
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^33:18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
^33:19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

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^34:4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 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 fathers to the third and fourth generation."

In this study we
encounter God’s...

Emotions
Personality
Friendship

When you think of God...

Deism was a form of religion that was very popular around the Revolutionary War. It was a product of the Enlightenment, when men in Europe tended to glorify "reason" and intellectual, philosophical thinking, and it tended to spread to their view of who God was. They came up with a worldview in which God existed, but wasn’t involved in our day-to-day lives. He was like a great watchmaker who made the world, wound it up, and then sat back to let it tick away by itself. God, to them, was distant, unapproachable, unemotional.
Although Deism is not a Christian worldview, nevertheless many Christians tend to think of God in similar ways. When you think of God, do you think of Him in a personal way? When you attend a funeral, do you think of him as being present, caring emotionally, even grieving? When you’re at a party, can you imagine God being there, laughing, having fun? When you feel frustrated, or sad, or angry, do you think God can identify?

Moses and his "Friend"

"The LORD would speak to Moses face to face,
as a man speaks with his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

What is the tone of the conversation between Moses and God in verses 12-20?

Using an English dictionary or Bible dictionary or wordbook, write out a brief definition for each of the terms God uses to describe Himself in this passage:

compassionate

gracious

slow to anger

Love

faithful

forgiving

judging ("punishes")

Summary: try to put into your own words a description of what God is like, given His own description to Moses in this passage:

Jesus "explains" God
"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
In this verse (John 1:18) the phrase "made known" literally means to "explain, interpret, or bring out the meaning" of something. God is mysterious to us, and so in sending Jesus He has disclosed Himself to us. On the last night of his earthly life, Jesus had the following conversation with one of his disciples:
"Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
Look up the following verses to see how Jesus’ life gave us a picture of what God is like:

Delight
Mark 10:13-16

Frustration
John 14:9 & Mark 14:37

Sadness
John 11:34-36 & Ephesians 4:30

Compassion
Mark 6:34

Anger
John 2:15 & Matthew 23:15

Gentleness
Matthew 11:29 & Matthew 21:5

"The God we’re looking for isn’t a stoic. He is an expressive God who has explained the depths of emotion and feelings that are beyond the realms of human understanding. This is a God we can spend an entire lifetime getting to know. This is a God who can lead us into a full and complete human existence. This is a God who feels with us. This is the God we’re looking for."
Bill Hybels,
The God You’re Looking For

Life Response
Spend some time alone with God this week. Find a quiet place and express your thoughts and feelings to him. You may find that writing in a journal, or composing a poem, or praying, or painting works best for you. But focus on His personality, His ability to understand how you feel. And remember that even if you can’t fully express it, He knows...

"...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."
(Romans 8:26)