The LORD bade Moses to chisel out two more stone tablets, saying He would write all the laws on them again. Moses presented himself on the mountain in the morning, and the LORD descended on the mountain in the cloud. There, He stood and talked with Moses, ((Exodus 34:5-7) (ESV) "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, keeping steadfast love for thousands,** (to the thousandth generation), forgiving iniquity and trans-gression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."
In this passage of scripture we can learn some things about the LORD. He is merciful. Some other words for "merciful" are forgiving, compassionate, lenient, and pitying. Pitying, here, means that God takes into consideration our frailness, our weakness, and our ignorance of spiritual things. Psalm 103 is an awesome one to read. It tells exactly this about the LORD. The LORD is gracious. Courteous, chivalrous, and kindare synonyms. (Proverbs 31:8-9) gives us a picture of this. So does Jesus, in the Gospels. (John 8:3-11) ((Matt. 15:30) (Matt. 12:9-11) (Luke 13:13-15) He abounds in steadfast, or dependable, reliable, committed love and faithfulness toward us. Another way you can say that is this: I can depend on the fact that God loves me. This is the first thing we need to remember when we find ourselves in trouble or tribulation. God loves me! That's the way we disarm the spirit of fear that would have us running in the wrong direction. He forgives our attitudes regarding sin and sinfulness as if they were alright. (That's wickedness) Iniquity and some sins are wickedness and wicked thoughts, words, and deeds. He forgives our sins, and transgressions. Sins are when we miss the mark. God expects certain things of us, but we are operating in flesh and blood bodies, we get weak, tired, and fed up. We can mess up, and often do; especially in the early years. A transgression has to do with going directly against a law or code of conduct.
This part about visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and children's children to the third and fourth generation, is telling us that there is such a thing as generational curses. A curse is something that will not leave your family; it repeats itself, or is passed on from one generation to the next. Here's an example: Let me tell you, God doesn't want to see anyone molested as a child. But that is something that can, and likely will, happen in every generation of that same family, until somebody says, "That's wrong!" And, until something is done to stop it, and to educate the family members, so that curse can be broken off. Breaking a generational curse off begins with one person; you, when you choose to live under blessing rather than cursing. (Deut. 30:19) Some other generational curses are witchcraft, or idolatry, alcoholism or drug addiction; even ignorance and illiteracy can become generational curses. When we read Kings, and some of the Chronicles, you can see how this happens. (1Kings 15:3) (2Kings 22:1-2) By the way, God told David that the sword would never leave his house because of what he'd done to Uriah.
Love you from Café du Mondieu
Copyright by Marina Morrison (aka) Eden Stillwater, February 25, 2023, 12:17 p.m.
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