Has God’s Character Changed?

Welcome to Hope Mommies In the Word devotionals. Over the next few weeks, we will be meditating on Psalm 77 together. As we study these truths together, we’d love you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into God’s Word each week with us! 

Has His steadfast love forever ceased? Psalm 77:9

READ:

Then my spirit made a diligent search: “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah As the psalmist reflected on his “before”, it brought him to a foundational question that had to be answered: Had God’s character changed? His experience was calling that in to question, because He did not feel the mercy, grace, favor, and love of the Lord. His circumstances were obscuring his vision, and he had to know if God was still the same God. The list of God’s traits in Psalm 77:7-9 may seem arbitrary, but they are a reference from Exodus 34. To understand Psalm 77, we have to understand the story of the exodus. The book of Exodus is an account of the Israelites rescue out of slavery from the Egyptians. The nation of Israel had been enslaved for 430 years and were under cruel bondage. God raised up Moses as a spokesperson, and brought His wonders to bear on the stubborn heart of Pharaoh. The tenth plague brought death to the Egyptians, but spared the people of God that sheltered under blood-covered doorways. Finally the Israelites were freed. They were led by the Lord in a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day til they arrived at the Red Sea. The Lord performed miracle after miracle to deliver and provide for His people: He parted the sea, rained bread from Heaven and brought water from rocks; He gave them victory over mighty enemies; He drew them to Mount Sinai and taught them His ways and how to worship.  If you’re familiar with the story, you know that Israel complained all along the way. After all of these glorious revelations of God’s activity and even visibly seeing His presence in the cloud and fire, the Israelites rebelled against God’s newly minted law and made a golden calf to worship so they could be like the nation they had just been rescued out of. Though they deserved death many times over for their rebellion, Moses pleaded mercy for the nation, and God was gracious and relented. Then a phenomenal thing happens: Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God says yes: The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Exodus 34:6) When God had appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He had revealed His name: YHWH (in english we pronounce it “Yahweh”), meaning the eternally existing One. And now in Exodus 34, God reminds Moses that He is YHWH, and here is how He acts. He is merciful and gracious. He is inherently slow to anger. He always abounds in faithful love. These attributes of His are perfect, pure, and unfading. They cannot be separated from Him, and He never acts outside of these characteristics.

REFLECT:

• If you were to recount God’s character right now, how would you describe it?
• How have your circumstances altered your vision of God? 
• Which aspect of His character is difficult for you to believe right now?

Erin Cushman is the founder of Hope Mommies. She is married to Blair and has five children: Gwendolyn, who has been with Jesus since October 20, 2010, Malacai, Gemma, Baby C, who is also with Jesus, and Savannah. She loves photography, gardening, cooking, reading, playing with her children, and especially loves when all those things combine.

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