The account with Moses is a bit of an anthropomorphism. The purpose is not to bluff, because the connotations involve a presumption that God doesn’t necessarily know what Moses will do. What happened is what God intended to happen all along, God gave Moses a lesson on what his attitude needed to be as the leader of the Hebrews. Moses demonstrated a correct understanding of who God is in the face of a threat for God to behave incoherently according to the understanding of this world and off himself unto death with regard to his standing with God.

God was not incoherent however. Perhaps He would have destroyed Israel if Moses had not responded as he did. i suggest that the one who changed was not God, but Moses. We have a good theology in terms of individuals, but God also deals with groups of people as corporate entities and our theology in that regard is a bit sketchy. Perhaps it is because our modern thinking is so existential and humanistic that we have lost strong notions of corporate identities. Moses was placed by God in the position to speak for Israel. Inasmuch as we honor God, it goes well for us. Inasmuch as we turn from God, it doesn’t go well for us. God doesn’t change – we do. This is true for groups of people as well as individuals.

However, I believe that only one outcome was possible because there was only one outcome; and as Creator, God planned this outcome. God didn’t need to see what kind of faith Moses had because He gave him the faith that he had and was using this event to give him greater faith.

Finally, I joke with my kids to teach them what faith is. It is not simply believing something to be true. If so, then if we have greater faith, we may have to exert ourselves in order to believe harder. I scrunch up my face, grunt until my face turns red and say in an strained voice, “I’m believing it really, really hard!” That’s not faith. A better word in English to capture the connotations of the word is “trust”. I can look at a normal chair and trust it to hold my weight. if I have seen a large person get up from the chair, then I can be reasonably more certain that it will hold my weight. I don’t think about it, but I simply sit. An old prank is to play on this trust by holding a chair for someone and then pulling it out from under them just as they sit down. Trust between people is built over time by demonstrated acts of trustworthiness. God was building an impressive list of acts he had done to demonstrate His trustworthiness. Throughout the scriptures, these acts are referenced back to for this very purpose. Our faith grows over time as we see God work in our lives. We will miss the activity of God if we don’t interact with Him and fail to build this trust in Him. Moses had an idea of the graciousness of God even though he was the instrument of the revelation of the Law. Moses trusted God’s graciousness when he offered himself up to God’s judgment with the rest of the Hebrews in verse 31.

That’s faith.

Not necessarily. God knows what is going to happen in the future, but that doesn’t mean our prayers are frivolous. God works in mysterious ways. Who’s to say one of the ways God chooses to work won’t be through our prayers?

It doesn’t mean God changes His mind. In fact, the Bible says in Numbers 23:19 that God doesn’t change his mind. I don’t think Moses would have written Exodus 32 and then later contradicted himself by writing Numbers 23:19. The truth is, like I said, some things about God may just be a mystery on this side of Heaven.

I second that motion was just simply that I’m glad to see that you are starting to see through some more of mens traditions that are not based on the truth of God’s word. That’s why I now avoid labels (Christian Universalist, Armenist, Calvinist, etc.). Let’s just continue to seek for more truth through prayer and study of God’s Word and not allow mens traditions to make the word of God of no effect.

Jon Paden

Thanks a bunch. I believe I see it now. Thanks so much for the connection.

It appears to me that some of your correspondents have concluded that saving faith and the faith which God yearns to see displayed by our prayers and decisions are one and the same. Saving faith is a gift from God, the other is our response towards Him, the latter is trust in God’s faithfulness, as Jesus demonstrated in His prayer in Matt. 26:39. Paul also in 2 Cor. 12:7-9.

The problem is that most seem to think that a positive answer is a sign that God has answered prayer, but I want to assure you that, as many prayers as I have had answered with a resounding “YES!”, there have been many more answered with a sovereign “NO!”. The reason for both is in 1 John 5:14.

Tied very closely to 5:14 is 3:21-24, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, BECAUSE WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS AND DO THE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT.”

What is/are His commandments and that which is pleasing in His sight? V.23, “THIS IS HIS COMMANDMENT, that we BELIEVE IN THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS HE COMMANDED US.”

Then we have v.24, “The one who KEEPS HIS COMMANDMENTS abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

The question we need to ask is, When I pray, is there anything in me which clouds my relationship with the Son, such as a lack of love towards a brother/sister, or brethren?

Nowhere in Scripture does God give His people cart blanche to ask according to our sin-tainted will, such as for selfish reasons, but He does give great latitude in praying for what is according to His will, such as the good of His people, and anything else which we know, from Scripture, are in accordance with his will, the forgiveness of sins, the sanctification of the soul, comfort in trial, the needful supply of our wants, grace that we may do our duty, wisdom to direct and guide us, deliverance from the evil, the involvement of of His Spirit in our service servants, and, of course, our salvation.