13/09/26 – Knowing His Name: Preshan J

Devotional

Day 1: Worshiping the Unnamed: When Gold Replaces Glory

The Israelites crafted a golden calf to worship, projecting God’s miracles onto a mute, nameless idol. Their restless hearts settled for a god shaped by their own hands—a cheap substitute for the living God. Like them, we risk fashioning hollow substitutes when we worship without knowing the One who acts. Idols demand nothing but our assumptions; Yahweh demands our attention, our curiosity, and our surrender to being known. True worship begins when we trade faceless projections for the God who declares, "This is my name." [17:03]

They said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
(Exodus 32:4–6, ESV)

Reflection: What “golden calf” have you subtly credited with God’s work in your life? How might your restlessness reveal a heart content with lesser gods?

Day 2: Show Me Your Glory: The Hunger to Know God’s Heart

Moses stood in the aftermath of Israel’s idolatry and dared to ask, “Show me your glory.” He refused to settle for secondhand stories or distant miracles. His hunger wasn’t for more signs but for deeper intimacy—to glimpse the heart behind the power. God’s response reveals that His glory isn’t merely in spectacle but in the weight of His character: mercy, grace, and steadfast love. To know Him is to crave not just what He does, but who He is. [22:07]

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And [God] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’”
(Exodus 33:18–19, ESV)

Reflection: When have you sought God’s activity more than His presence? What would it look like to ask Him today, “Show me your heart, not just your hand”?

Day 3: The Name That Breathes Mercy: Yahweh’s Self-Revelation on Sinai

God’s name thundered from Sinai not as a threat but as a revelation: “Merciful. Gracious. Slow to anger.” To a people fresh from betrayal, He introduced Himself as the God who forgives iniquity yet upholds justice. His name isn’t a label but a lens—every syllable unveils His resolve to love rebels and restore the broken. To know this name is to trust the Person behind it, whose goodness outlasts every failure. [24:39]

The Lord passed before [Moses] 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, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
(Exodus 34:6–7, ESV)

Reflection: Which aspect of God’s self-revelation most disrupts your assumptions about Him? How does His mercy toward Israel reshape your view of His heart toward you?

Day 4: Putting a Face to the Name: Christ as God’s Exact Imprint

In Jesus, the unseen God became touchable. The name proclaimed at Sinai took on flesh, blood, and scars. Where Moses glimpsed God’s back, Christ revealed His face—the exact imprint of His nature. The cross became the ultimate declaration of Yahweh’s name: mercy meeting justice, love swallowing sin. To know Jesus is to stand in the cleft of the Rock and see the fullness of God’s glory. [35:01]

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
(Colossians 1:15–16, ESV)

Reflection: How does Jesus’ life and death deepen your understanding of Exodus 34:6–7? Where do you struggle to see God’s heart in Christ’s sacrifice?

Day 5: The Better Portion: Choosing Intimacy Over Activity

Martha served meals; Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. Martha assumed busyness honored Him; Mary knew listening did. Like Israel at Sinai, we often substitute religious labor for relational knowing—mistaking motion for devotion. Yet Jesus called Mary’s choice “the better portion.” To know God’s name is to prioritize presence over productivity, letting service flow from intimacy rather than replace it. [40:33]

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
(Luke 10:41–42, ESV)

Reflection: Where has your spiritual life become more about “serving God” than sitting with Him? What practical step could you take this week to choose the “better portion”?

Sermon Summary

God reveals himself not as a vague concept, a mystery to solve, or an energy to harness, but as a person who wants to be known. His name is more than a label. In Scripture, a name carries character, reputation, nature, and essence. God introduces himself through his name because Christianity is not just about knowing things about God. It is about actually knowing him.

Israel shows how worship can go wrong. The golden calf had no name, no nature, no voice, and no real identity. Israel grew restless and made something convenient to worship, projecting onto a block of gold the life, protection, and power they wanted. Idolatry still works like that when people settle for a lesser version of God rather than taking time to know the true God for who he is.

Moses carries a completely different posture. Moses does not merely ask God to forgive Israel or stay with Israel. Moses asks, “Show me your ways” and “Show me your glory.” God answers by proclaiming his name, because his glory is found in his nature and character, not only in thunder, lightning, and splendor. Yahweh reveals himself as self-existent, almighty, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, while also remaining perfectly just.

God’s name holds mercy and justice together. His love reaches to the thousandth generation, while sin brings real consequences into families and generations. God does not simply hand out free passes, because guilt must be dealt with. Yet God does not leave sinners without hope. His mercy reaches even to iniquity, the deep twisting of God’s moral order. No person is too far gone to be forgiven.

Jesus becomes the full revelation of the face and name of God. Moses could not see God’s face and live, but in Christ, the Word became flesh and dwelt among humanity. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact imprint of his nature. The cross shows the Lord as both merciful and just: sin is punished, but God himself steps in to atone for it.

The hunger to know God must not be replaced by busy service, religious familiarity, or the pursuit of blessings. Moses, Joshua, David, Mary, and Paul each show that the better portion is knowing God himself. Those who know his name put their trust in him, because he does not forsake those who seek him.

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Key Takeaways

1. Know God, not a projection Idolatry begins when people become content with a version of God they can manage. A nameless golden calf can receive projected hopes, fears, and desires without ever confronting the worshiper. God calls people beyond convenient ideas of him into the real knowledge of his character. [19:23]
2. God’s glory is his character Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God answers by proclaiming his name. God’s glory is not merely brightness, power, or a spectacular moment. God’s glory is seen in his mercy, patience, steadfast love, faithfulness, and justice. [23:15]
3. Mercy reaches deeper than failure God names sin, transgression, and iniquity because every kind of rebellion matters to him. God also declares that he forgives all three, including the person who has twisted God’s moral order and feels beyond reach. Grace is not denial about sin; grace is God’s willingness to deal with it. [30:08]
4. The cross reveals God’s full name The cross does not soften God’s justice or reduce his holiness. The cross shows that sin must be punished, while also showing that God is merciful enough to bear that judgment himself. Jesus makes visible the God Moses longed to know. [36:55]
5. Knowing him is the better portion Service, Bible knowledge, and long familiarity can quietly become substitutes for intimacy with God. Moses still asked for more after extraordinary encounters with God. A living faith keeps saying, “Show me your ways. Show me your glory.”

## [38:45]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[08:50] - Knowing About God or Knowing God
[12:31] - God Reveals Himself Through His Name
[15:16] - Israel and the Golden Calf
[19:23] - Worshiping God on His Terms
[22:07] - Moses Asks to See God’s Glory
[24:39] - Yahweh Proclaims His Name
[26:56] - Merciful, Gracious, and Slow to Anger
[28:42] - God Forgives Sin, Transgression, and Iniquity
[30:26] - God’s Justice and Generational Consequences
[32:24] - Jesus Reveals the Face of God
[35:56] - The Cross Reveals God’s Character
[37:35] - Rediscovering the Hunger to Know God
[41:50] - An Invitation to Know Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Exodus 34:5–7
“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, forgiving iniquity and transgression 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.’” [24:39]

Exodus 33:13, 18
“Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” [22:07]

Exodus 32:1, 4
“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” [16:30]

John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [33:43]

Observation questions

What situation caused Israel to become restless, and what did they ask Aaron to make for them? [16:30]
What did Israel claim the golden calf had done for them, even though they had witnessed God’s deliverance from Egypt?
What two requests does Moses make of God in Exodus 33:13 and 18, and what reason does he give for wanting to see God’s ways?
In Exodus 34:6–7, what words does God use to describe both his mercy and his justice? [24:39]

Interpretation questions

Why is a man-made, nameless idol so easy for people to shape around their own desires, fears, and expectations? How can this keep a person from knowing God as he truly is? [19:15]
Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God responds by proclaiming his name. What does this reveal about where God’s glory is most clearly seen? [23:09]
God says that he forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will not leave the guilty unpunished. How does the cross of Jesus hold these two truths—mercy and justice—together? [36:52]
John says that Jesus is “full of grace and truth.” How does Jesus make God’s character personal and visible to people who were not present with Moses on Mount Sinai? [34:14]

Application questions

What version of God is easiest for you to believe in: a God who mainly gives comfort, a God who mainly demands performance, or a God who exists mainly to help you reach your goals? How might that picture differ from the God who reveals himself in Exodus 34? [19:52]
Israel became restless while waiting and chose something immediate and manageable to worship. When you feel delayed, uncertain, or disappointed, what are you tempted to turn to for security or control? [19:27]
Moses had already experienced God’s presence in remarkable ways, but he still prayed, “Show me your ways” and “Show me your glory.” What would it look like for you to pray that honestly and specifically this week? [38:45]
God describes himself as merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Which part of God’s character do you most need to trust right now, and why? [27:16]
If you carry shame over past sin, transgression, or deep patterns of iniquity, what would it mean to bring that honestly to Jesus rather than believing you are beyond God’s reach? [30:08]
It is possible to stay busy serving God while slowly losing the joy of knowing him. Are there spiritual activities, responsibilities, or routines in your life that may be crowding out time to listen to and enjoy God? What small change could create space to know him more personally? [40:26]
Those who know God’s name put their trust in him because he does not forsake those who seek him. In one current concern or decision, what would trusting God’s character look like in a practical way this week? [41:34]

Sermon Clips

45s

#KnowHimAgain

“Today, god is inviting us to rediscover, reawaken that hunger for knowing him again. Like Sophie was saying, it doesn't need to be complicated. Don't need to turn this Christianity thing into some big complicated affair. It's just as simple as knowing the one who has created you, who loves you, who has saved you, who has died for you. It's just about knowing him. Take the time to know him. Refuse to worship him without knowing him because that's what leads to idolatry. Say, god, I want to know you more so that I can worship you appropriately. I can worship you for who you are.”

43s

#NeverTooFarForGod

“Now, you're here this morning and you think that you are too far gone. You think you've committed too many inequities for God to be even interested in you. You might think I've done so much wrong in my life, God would want to have nothing at all to do with me. Listen to how God introduces himself. He says he forgives not just sin, he forgives not just sin and transgression. He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. You are never too far gone. You are never beyond God's reach. He forgives all sin, all transgression, all iniquity. This is the God we worship, and this is how he introduces himself.”

40s

#ThirstForGod

“And this morning, maybe you have in some way, you've lost that joy and that delight of knowing more of him. Like Moses, the Bible says Moses literally would speak to God face to face as a man speaks to a friend. And yet, you could say, of all people, Moses knew God, but still he sees God on the mountain. He says, God, I wanna know more. Show me your glory. Show me your ways. I'm not satisfied with my knowledge of you. There is more of you to be experienced, more of you to be discovered, more of you to be understood. Show me more.”

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