Devotions: What We Don't Understand

And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

Exodus 33:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God was talking to Moses in the middle of their desert journey. God had reprimanded the Israelites for their obstinacy and they were grieved. Moses interceded for them, begging God to not abandon them, but to hold to His promises. Then Moses asked for something incredible; he asked God to show Himself to him so that he could know Him. Moses’ greatest desire was to know God, to understand Him. God conceded to that request in part; He gave Moses favor, He went with the people, He did show part of Himself to Moses, but He made it clear that Moses could not understand Him. Moses would see His glory, but he could not understand His ways. God knows far more than we do, He sees far more than we do, and He makes His decisions based on that expanded foresight and knowledge. We would have to know all of that to understand Him and what He does. God is unfathomable. Who are we to ask or demand an explanation from Him? Because of this, we may never understand why He shows grace and compassion to some and not to others, but it is very clear through the Bible that no one deserves any grace or compassion. He bestows them both generously and purposefully. We can rest assured that what He does is for the best, even if we don’t understand it. We can trust Him with what we don’t understand.