A Renewed Covenant
“Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.”
In Exodus 32, while Moses is meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the people of Israel build an idol to worship, directly breaking the covenant they had just made with God in Exodus 24. God’s response is to renew his covenant with the people, reaffirming His love for them. This relationship is not based on their behaviour but on God’s nature.
We all have moments where, like the Israelites, we've faltered or turned to substitutes for God. Today, be encouraged that God is patient, loving and kind - and that our relationship with Him is a gift freely given, not a prize we can earn.
As Paul says in Romans 6, this doesn’t mean that we should “keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace…”
But instead, that our mistakes do not define us, and we’re invited to not define others by theirs.
Consider the principles of embracing grace within relationships. How might God’s covenant renewal, after the people had broken covenant, inspire a posture of receiving and extending grace within your connections with others?
As you reflect on God’s steadfast, loyal love, embrace the truth that intimacy with God is a gift freely given, not a reward earned. Remember that God's desire for closeness is not reliant on your perfection.
How does this understanding of God’s loyal love change how you relate to God and others?