When God Introduces Himself: The Most Important Verses You've Never Heard Of

Have you ever wondered what God would say if He had to introduce Himself to you? What qualities would He highlight first? What would He want you to know about His character above all else?

"I still don't understand why God didn't do something to these people. At least until I read Exodus, chapter 34, verses 6 and 7." These verses contain what "someone has said that this is one of the most important verses in the Bible. We know it's important because it's quoted or referred to dozens of times, especially in the Old Testament."

God's Divine Resume

In Exodus 34:6-7, we find Moses on Mount Sinai after the Israelites had just committed one of the worst acts of rebellion - creating and worshipping a golden calf while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments. In this moment, "the Lord passed by in front of Moses and proclaimed, now listen, this is like God is introducing himself. He comes up to Moses."

Even though "Moses had known God for a long time. For years and years and years and years and years," God wanted to make His character crystal clear. Here's what God proclaimed:

"The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. And yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren, to the third and the fourth generations."

Breaking Down God's Character

He Is Your Covenant God

"The first thing he says, you know, is, is, I'm Yahweh, I'm God, okay? I'm the Lord. Anytime you see in your Bible the word Lord, all caps L O R D, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That is using this word Yahweh. It's a very special name."

This isn't just any introduction. "This is his covenant name. This is his covenant name. This is how people. This is how people who are intimate with him, who have a relationship with him, this is how they know him."

He Is Compassionate

"God says I have a heart. And when I see something tender, it works on that compassion. When I see people stumbling and when I see people hurting and when I see people lonely and I see people confused, something in my being stirs. I am a compassionate God."

Think about this: "These very people who had just turned their backs on God. God says it's about these people, that I still have compassion. Remember that when you botch life up terribly, okay. When you just really mess up... you just remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, the God of Richard is a compassionate God."

He Is Slow to Anger

"Well, I've already talked about how God and I are so different on this one. I'm getting better. I really, really am getting better in the anger department. Okay? But God says I'm slow to anger."

This is remarkable when you consider what the Israelites had just done. "I mean, if that didn't light a fuse with God, I don't know what would." But God restrains His anger because, as Peter explains in 2 Peter 3, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but he wants everyone to come to repentance."

He Abounds in Love

"Don't you just love that word? Especially when it talks about your financial status, you know, your checking account or whatever... Well put. That sense of unbounding with unfailing love. We don't know what to do with all the love that God has for us. It's just amazing. It overflows."

"That's the way it is with God and then some. Because we can do sin after sin after sin after sin after sin after sin. And there's no point whatsoever, no point whatsoever where the Bible says that God's love is done and that he stops loving you. Does that surprise you?"

The God Who Forgives

God doesn't just love us - He actively forgives us. "You know what the idea of forgiveness is now? It's presented a couple different ways in the Bible. One way is that God just kind of lets it go. Like write your sin on a balloon. Those helium balloons, watch it go."

But there's another picture: "It has the idea of picking up something that's very heavy and carrying it away. Picking up something that's really, really, really heavy, something that you can't pick up, but God can, and he picks it up and he carries it away."

Why can't we carry our own guilt? "For the simple reason that you were never designed to carry away the guilt of your sin. God does that. You were designed. I was designed to say, God, I can't do this. Can you do it for me? Can you take away the guilt of my sin? And he will say, I certainly can."

The Reality of Consequences

But here's where God's introduction takes a serious turn. After declaring His mercy and forgiveness, God adds: "yet will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren, to the third and fourth generations."

"The last part of verse seven does not negate what the first part of verse seven and verse six says. But it's a realistic part of life, okay? You can make things right with God. God will forgive those things and you'll have fellowship restored. You'll have that oneness restored with God. But there is that little thing that's called a consequence. Just a good old fashioned natural consequence."

This isn't about God being vindictive. It's about the natural reality that our choices have lasting effects. "We think we can go out and we think we can do anything and God forgives us, and we just get back in the saddle and just live like nothing's ever happened before. But there are things called consequences that God has forgiven you... But there are consequences to choices that we make."

Even Moses, the friend of God, experienced this reality. Despite experiencing "God's forgiveness multiple times" and renewing "the covenant with God multiple times," Moses wasn't allowed to enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience.

Putting It Into Practice

Remember God's Unfailing Love

"If you don't take anything else away from today, remember that there will never be a shortage in God's heart of his love for you. You're special... you're the apple of God's eye."

Bring Your Burdens to Him

"If you got stuff going on in your life that you need to dump, you need to dump it now, today. Let God take that garbage out to the dumpster, the spiritual dumpster, and give you a fresh and clean start so you can get restored in your fellowship and in your walk with God."

Choose Wisely

"Really think about this issue of living a holy and a pure life so you don't have to deal with the consequences that are going to come your way... Just stay away from it. Save yourself the problems and the hassles, the practical ones. You'll be glad you did."

This is how God wants you to know Him - as a God of incredible love, patience, and forgiveness, but also as a God of justice who takes sin seriously. "My sins are forgiven. Everything I, you know, my past is the past. But you know what? The past still is written down somewhere. It is."

The beauty is that while consequences may remain, God's love never runs out. In a world of shortages and limitations, "there's never a shortage on God's love." That's the God who introduced Himself to Moses, and that's the same God who wants to be known by you today.