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The Father's Business Podcast
The Father's Business Podcast
He is-The Character of God: He is Compassionate and Gracious
This episode launches our exciting new series exploring God's character that will run from September through December. We begin with the profound moment in Exodus 34 when God passes before Moses and proclaims His name: "The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."
We contrast God's natural inclination toward grace with our human tendency to justify anger and impatience. While we rush to defend our right to be upset, God consistently chooses compassion. His "hesed"—covenant loyalty and enduring kindness—means His grace isn't a temporary emotion but a permanent commitment, especially for those in Christ.
The challenge for us isn't about striving harder to be good people. It's about alignment—positioning ourselves to allow God's character to flow through us naturally. We invite you to join us on this journey of discovery and transformation by looking for evidence of God's compassion and grace in your everyday life this week.
Share your stories with us and others as encouragement and reminders of who God truly is. Connect with us at thefathersbusiness.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram @TheFathersBiz.
The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God. Thank you for listening to this devotional. Hey everybody, it's Elizabeth and Kimberly's here too, and we're so excited to invite you to Rooted and Resilient. It's happening October 3rd and 4th in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 2:This is going to be a weekend of blessing, alignment and wholeness. It's going to help you get rooted in truth and resilient in your faith.
Speaker 1:We're going to be drawing from the themes of Ruach, Journey, Safe in the Father's Heart, and our new devotional Strength to Equal your Days. It's going to be an atmosphere where you can hear from God and be strengthened in your walk with Him.
Speaker 2:So maybe you're feeling worn out, or maybe you're just ready for a deeper connection with God. This weekend will be for you.
Speaker 1:Currently, registration is just $95. Or bring someone with you and you both save. We have a discounted price of $80 each.
Speaker 2:Register today for the best price at thefathersbusinesscom. Don't wait, spots are limited.
Speaker 1:We can't wait to see you there.
Speaker 2:Come and join us for Rooted and Resilient.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody and welcome to this week's podcast. You just heard our announcement about our upcoming event, rooted and Resilient, happening October 3rd and 4th in Charlotte, north Carolina, and we are super excited. It's going to be here before we know it, but there is still plenty of time for you to sign up. And, kimberly, you and I know this feeling all too well. You just have that feeling of that sounds like an amazing thing to go do, but life is busy, it's overwhelming and I'm just plain tired. You have that feeling, kimberly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I do, and I resonate with those of you who are listening and thinking man, I'd love to do this, I'd love to do that, I'd love to go to this conference, but I am so tired. Do I really want to do it? And I think that's where Elizabeth and I sit in this place. Often these days, we're both tired from a lot of just life circumstances. But I think that what we want to offer you through this opportunity is it is a place to come and just be. That is really, if you get to know Elizabeth and I that is the heartbeat of who we are and how we like to operate is just come and be present. And so we want to offer you this opportunity to come and sit and be with your father and be in community with others. It's not just an event to attend and take lots of notes, for, I mean, you'll learn a lot, there's definitely things that you'll take away, but we want you to come and just be present with the father.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so I agree completely with you, kimberly.
Speaker 1:Our heartbeat for this event is to create space where we can pause, where we can breathe, where we can get renewed and filled back up, because we are all being pulled in a hundred directions and we all do feel that tired and worn out feeling.
Speaker 1:Even when we're doing good things, like even for those of us that are in full-time ministry, as you pour out and give to others, you can walk away feeling drained. So this time in Charlotte, as we're praying for you, I'm going on daily walks and as I'm praying I don't know everyone's name yet because not everyone is signed up, but I pray for seats, so I'm praying for the person who's going to sit in this seat, as I picture the place where we're meeting in my mind, and I'm just praying for God to make a way. There's some of you that probably feel like there's too many obstacles in the way to get there, and we're praying for God to be a way maker for you so that you're able to join us and that, as you arrive, you would just feel like this seat was meant for me. This is my time to connect with my father and hear what he wants to say to me personally.
Speaker 2:And I would encourage you that if you haven't signed up yet and you're kind of waiting to see if it'll work out, I'd encourage you to go ahead and sign up. Just this week, elizabeth and I had decided that we wanted to attend an event and we decided let's do it, let's make it happen. And it's months out and we thought let's just commit to it. And I think, even as we did that, we were talking and it was like I'm kind of I'm more excited about it now that I've done it, like I'm more, I'm anticipating it more, and so sometimes, sure, there's going to be things that come, there's things that happen, we get that.
Speaker 2:But I think sometimes, if you'll just go for it and sign up and register, then sometimes we start to feel the anticipation build as we do that. And so if you're on the fence, we would love for you to join us. Join us while the price is still $95 per person, or we still have the deal where you can pay $80 per person if you bring a friend. So we invite you to come as you are, bring your friends as they are, and just know that God's going to do the rest and we are praying for a wonderful time together in Charlotte October 3rd and 4th and for those of you that have already signed up.
Speaker 1:We are eager with anticipation to see you face to face and know that we have a team of people that are praying for you by name, every day now, from now until the time that we're at the conference.
Speaker 2:So we look forward to seeing you there For today. We are starting a new series that's going to run from September through December, and we are very excited about this new series. We've been thinking about it for a few months. Here we're going to be talking about who God is, the character of God, the heart of our Father Jesus, the Holy Spirit, all of the Trinity, and His capacity and the fullness of God. One thing we talk a lot about around here is knowing who God is and then knowing who we are in Christ. So this series is really gonna be focused on knowing who God is, and I'm excited about it. I think you are too, elizabeth.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. We're excited about this, and if you look through all of the books that we have written, the devotionals we've released, what we speak about when we're at conferences, one of those core threads through all of it is understanding. Not just knowing intellectually who God is, but understanding deep down in our spirit, soul and body, in our heart, who God is to us, because our view of God shapes everything, whether we realize it or not. And so we want to spend some time going on a journey with you this fall looking at just some of the characteristics of God. If you're familiar with prayer portions or revealing the treasures or some of our other resources, you know there's over 365 different characteristics of God. We're not going to cover all of them in 15 weeks. We're going to pick some of those key characteristics and we're going to cover all of them in 15 weeks. We're going to pick some of those key characteristics and we're going to do a little bit of a deep dive of what is God trying to reveal about himself through that characteristic and then how does it impact us and how does it change us and how are we transformed by beholding him and knowing who he is? So I think it's going to be an exciting fall.
Speaker 1:As we've kind of thought about this series, one of the verses that keeps coming to my mind is in Exodus 34. And if you're familiar with the story, this is when Moses is going to meet with God. God has already given him the Ten Commandments once he goes down the mountain to deliver them to the people. They have been rebellious and Moses, in his frustration, smashes the tablets. So here we are, round two God is meeting with Moses and he's telling him okay, write down the Ten Commandments on the stones. And so Moses has done that.
Speaker 1:And then Moses says I'm going to pass before you and I'm going to tell you my name. Basically this is a little liberal translation, but basically he says I'm going to pass by you and I'm going to declare to you who I am. And so in Exodus 34, verse 6, it says and God passed in front of Moses proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. And so I just keep coming back to this verse as kind of the foundation of this series of when God had the opportunity to reveal his name to Moses. He started with compassion and grace. He started as the compassionate and gracious God, and so we just want to spend a few minutes today as an intro, to talk just a little bit about what does it mean that God is compassionate and gracious with us?
Speaker 2:Elizabeth, as you say that, thinking about God starting with describing himself as compassionate, I think that's it's pretty powerful. When you think about the word compassion used in the Hebrew language there I'm not sure I'm going to say this right, but the word is something like rahum, it's linked to the womb, and so it is evoking this deep parental mercy, a sense of compassion that is deeply rooted, and I think that's pretty powerful because it takes us back to being His children, which is really our foremost identity. It says sons and daughters of the Most High.
Speaker 1:God Kimberly, we just finished our series on Safe in the Father's Heart and spent you know what was that? 10, 11 weeks just really honing in on what does it mean to know God as Father and for us to be His child? And so I think sometimes the word compassionate in my English mindset, in the English language, I mean it's like, yeah, I can have compassion for you, but that doesn't feel very deep to me, like I can feel sympathetic for you, but the way you're describing it as it is connected to the Hebrew word for the womb and that paternal, like that you would protect your own newborn child at all costs, deep level compassion is just beautiful to think about. At all costs, deep level compassion is just beautiful to think about. And that of all the things, because I mean imagine Moses is sitting on the side of a mountain and the glory of God has come. I mean it was a big deal, I mean it was a holy moment and even Moses's face was glowing as he came down the mountain because he had encountered God face to face, and so that feels like such a big, powerful, holy, other than moment. And it was. But his first word is compassion and just that intimate knowledge of, you know, a mother taking care of the child while it's in the womb and completely helpless in the womb and then, as the baby is born and still needs such tender care. And he follows that up with the word gracious, that picture of God leaning towards us. And even in that moment the people had rebelled against Moses and God, when Moses was away trying to spend time with God, to get a word from God for the people, and Moses comes back and smashes the tablets. The people and Moses comes back and smashes the tablets. And I love that.
Speaker 1:If you read a little bit earlier in verse 34, I'm sorry, chapter 34. Thank you, I find it funny. I always love God's sense of humor. I mean I can hear the tone that's not there, but I hear it Earlier in chapter 34, he says to Moses at the beginning chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablet which you broke.
Speaker 1:And so I just love how God's like. You remember we've already done this and we're going to do it again because you broke them and he broke them in response to a sinful people, and so how gracious God is, I think if Elizabeth was God and thank God she's not I would be much more of the mindset of I gave y'all a shot Like I have done all of this for you and this is how you repay me. So you broke my tablets. You're not getting any more, so I love that he is leaning towards us to give us grace and mercy and favor that we cannot earn, and even when we're at our most as Moses called them stiff-necked people places in our lives, god continues to be gracious with us.
Speaker 2:And we often see those two words go together throughout Scripture Over and over again. You see, in Psalms it says the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. I really like the verse in 2 Chronicles, 30, verse 9, it says for the Lord, your God, is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him, and that's what you were just saying. It's that picture of a compassionate piece that kind of goes back to that deep sense of parenting in its truest sense that God intended it to be, and the piece of graciousness. That's that unearned, undeserved favor of God leaning towards his people in both of those ways. You see, he will not turn his face because that's his character. If we return to him, he will not turn his face because that's his character. If we return to him, he will not turn his face, and it's that over and over again. He is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 145, verses 8 and 9, say he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love. The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all he has made.
Speaker 2:I think about how the verses that talk about the character of God also has to shape us as children. And the verse that quickly comes to mind for me is Ephesians 4.32, which says Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another. Just as in Christ God forgave you, and so we are also called to embody that quality, that characteristic of compassion and graciousness, and that's not easy to do. I think the phrase that stands out to me in that Exodus verse, which is really that kind of, becomes Israel's creed right Over and over again the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God. Slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, that's what he proclaimed to Moses. The part that stands out to me that I know I need to embody and I'm actually very aware of it at this season in my life is slow to anger. Elizabeth, you know me and I know you, and that is something we both are similar in having to figure out how do I?
Speaker 2:calm that anger down. How do I not allow that to be the first thing that comes out in my tone? Because that's just where it comes and you don't see God in that. You're kind of reading into with the tone of God's earlier in Exodus 34 with the tablets. You don't see him like all right, guys, you did it again, you broke it and I'm going to shove it in your face again. No, there's a compassion there that that just doesn't come naturally, like I know for me. I have to be walking by the Spirit and paying attention to who God is and how he shapes me to be able to live with compassion and grace and to live in a way that is slow to anger. Do you reckon, do you, kimball, you're getting?
Speaker 1:a little too convicted.
Speaker 2:This is just the intro okay, oh, I know, but that's that phrase gets me, because it's so real for me, it just really is, it really is it does get to me and as you're talking, I, I know, I I see the, the contrast between us and god.
Speaker 1:God is leaning towards us. He wants more than anything to give us grace, compassion, favor, mercy. And I know my natural MO. When I get into a place where I feel that anger rising is, I want to run to justification. Well, I had the right to feel this way, because this, this and this happened to me, or I'm caring so much and no one else is coming to help me. And so where God is leaning towards grace and compassion, I'm trying to lean towards justification, self-righteousness, all these other things. Why it's okay that I had a tone, it's okay that I was not patient, that I was not slow to anger, that something made me snap, because you have to understand all these other reasons, and I think I see that also in my life.
Speaker 1:I know, but I think in our culture we're all really quick right now to defend why we had the right to say what we said, how we said it. When we said it to that other person, even when we're speaking truth, it was like, well, I was just telling you the truth, well, but where was the compassion and the grace and the mercy and the favor mixed in in that. So, yes, I think we have a lot to learn through this series ourselves how our own behavior needs to reflect more of who God is. And then also, we need to not project God's not up in heaven looking for ways to justify why he's angry at me. God is, over and over, leaning towards me with mercy and grace and compassion, and I can be like Moses and I can be frustrated and I can break the tablets. And I can come back to him and he will say the truth is, yes, you broke the tablets, but here we go, let's write them down again. And there was no reprimand there. I just love the fact that he put that little which you broke, but I'm going to show up for you again. And he's going to keep showing up.
Speaker 1:And I think as we get into the New Testament, jesus becomes the embodiment of this grace and compassion.
Speaker 1:So many stories we could talk about, whether it's the woman at the well or stepping in before they're trying to stone the woman who's been caught in adultery, or even just with Peter, when Peter's like how many times must I forgive? Seven times, and Peter thought he was being very gracious to forgive someone seven times, and Jesus says 70 times seven. So, like there's this, he is the embodiment of that grace and compassion that we watched as he walked around and how he dealt with people. And so, yeah, this is going to be an exciting time that, I hope, deepens our wonder and our awe of who God is, but it's also going to be a time where we get to ask the question okay, how do I become a better reflection of this in my own life, as you are so kindly pointing out to me, Kimberly, in the area of patience, sure, and I think the key to remember as we walk through this is also encapsulated in that phrase abounding in love and faithfulness.
Speaker 2:That's in Exodus 34.6, because that is a term that some of us may be familiar with, which is hesed.
Speaker 2:It is that covenant, loyalty, enduring kindness, and that is what, like to me, that's kind of a key hinge there as well, because it's like we can walk away, we can screw up, we can break the tablets and God says, yeah, you broke them, but look, I'm here because I have a covenant, loyal relationship with you, my child, and so if you're in Christ, then that promise is there, that covenant is there, and I think that has to shape the way we pray, the way we worship, the way, like you said, jesus embodies this.
Speaker 2:We have to look at all of his pictures. All of those things have to change us, and so I'd encourage you to think about that today. How does this truth change and shape the way you live your life? We have to answer that question each and every day. Am I going to be aware of it enough so that I can live in alignment and walk out of the spirit, not out of my own fleshly heart and desire. So, as we walk through this series, yeah, we're going to talk about the beauty of who God is and we're going to talk about how to apply it to our life, which is not always fun, but it's powerful, it's powerful.
Speaker 1:Yes, and as you just said, Kimberly, it is ultimately getting down to this idea of alignment, because God is compassion and graciousness.
Speaker 1:That is His character, that is His DNA, and so if we work to keep ourselves spirit, soul and body aligned with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it will be more natural for who he is to flow through us.
Speaker 1:So we don't have to work to be gracious and compassionate. We need to tap into who God is and allow who he is to flow through us, and then make choices to not let our fleshly desires and our sinful nature get in the way of that. So it is this partnership between who God is and who we choose to be in Him, and so I want to encourage everyone and we'll do this every week as we go through, for the next seven days until our next podcast is released, or until the next time you listen to our next podcast go throughout your day asking God to show you. God, show me how you are gracious and compassionate. Look for him in the day-to-day moments. He will show up, he will show off. He wants you to know him. So, during this next time until our next podcast, where did you see the graciousness and compassionate God showing up in your life or in the lives of others.
Speaker 2:So, as you're looking this week for how God is compassionate and gracious, how he's slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, as you see Him showing up in those ways, share it with a friend as a reminder and as an encouragement, and share with us. You go to our website and send us an email, or you can go to our Facebook page, or you can find us on Instagram at the Father's Biz, and we would love to hear your stories there as well. So share them with us, share them with one another, and we really look forward to being with you next time.
Speaker 1:I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast. Thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
