An insomniac's Psalm 103: Verse 7

"He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel."

I won't let God go unless He blesses me on this one. I am dead earnest about knowing His ways; I pray it every day. It scares me to think of being on the wrong track in anything---of being in the wrong "way." I want to know how He would handle this and that situation. I want to know which of His promises are for the "already" and which are for the "not yet." I don't want to get to heaven and find out I missed something He had for me because of unbelief or bad theology.

God made known his ways to Moses. Why? Well, He was pleased to, that's the short answer. Also, we know that Moses was the most humble man alive (Numbers 12:3). God evidently smiled on that. Moses didn't even defend himself against Aaron and Miriam's outrageous charge. He did what Jesus did: "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).

The other thing Moses did was to ask! He asked God point blank to show him His ways. Maybe there are lots of things we don't have because we simply don't ask. Moses said to the Lord: "Please show me your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight" (Exodus 33:13). And He did.

When Moses asked God to show him His "glory," what God did was show him His ways. God could have answered with some metaphysical answer. He could also have answered by something totally self-referential---that He was "majestic" or "holy" or "wrathful" or "just"---and these would all be true. But instead He described His deepest self in reference to us: "goodness" and his "mercy" and "graciousness." He said, this is who I am and this is my glory and this is my way.

God showed Moses other "ways," too: He showed Moses that He can use timid people with a low self-image to do great things, the better to demonstrate that the power is from Him. He showed Moses that He calls out a people for himself and takes care of them. He showed Moses that He can pull signs and wonders out of his holy sleeve whenever he wants to. He showed Moses that He is no-nonsense with His enemies. He showed Moses that when you're stuck between the Red Sea and a dust cloud of advancing enemy horses, that's when life just gets interesting.

One important fact is that man cannot know God's "ways" unless He is pleased to show us. God must initiate the relationship---and He does. He acts into history, and then He tells us what He meant by it: His deeds and His Word; His "general revelation" and His "special revelation," as some call it.

Philosophers have tried to know God's ways. They have drawn their circles and tried to catch God in them but have failed. Theologians who treat God like a school subject have missed Him, too. God will not be a specimen under glass. By His prerogative, God reveals Himself to special classes of people, like "servants" (Revelation 1:1) and "children" (Matthew 11:25-26) and the "pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8). Those people know that you get to know God's ways by walking in what we already know of His ways. He just keeps showing us a little more (Philippians 3:15).

What a blessing God's self-disclosure is. What a relief to not be operating in the dark or trying to appease an unknown or capricious god. We are horrified that the pagan nations burned their infants in the Valley of the Son of Hinnon (Jeremiah 7:31). But I suppose it would come to that if you have enough summers of drought and you're shooting in the dark.

To read "Verse 8," click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.