The NIV 365 Day Devotional

God’s Love Rewrites Our Story

The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Exodus 34:1-9

We see the love of God in this scene where Moses chisels new stone tablets for God to record the Law a second time. Prior to this, the Israelites fashioned a golden calf and worshiped it, essentially declaring that the God who had rescued them from Egyptian tyranny could be contained in a mere statue. When Moses saw this, he smashed the first stone tablets.

Even so, God’s love for humankind permitted a rewrite. Not only that, but he spent time with Moses, declaring his intentions with kindness and love. The words God spoke over Moses are sentences he writes over us.

• He is the loving Creator, fashioning everything we see.
• He loves us, even when we stray.
• He is filled to the brim with grace, and he offers it freely to us without measure.
• He is slow to get angry; he is patient with us. This is how he demonstrates his love.
• He overflows with love, the kind of affection a parent has for dearly loved children.
• He is faithful to us, even when we are faithless.

Perhaps today you need these reminders of God’s great love for you. Even at our worst, God is at his best—loving us, graciously rewriting our failures into new faith stories. Rest in that truth.

Taken from the NIV Radiant Virtues Bible.