Exodus 34 • Shining Faces

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

Let me ask that you would look in your Bibles now at Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34.



 Where we are in this journey of grace on which Israel is traveling is the Lord has given to His people commands for their safety and their good. They respond by making a golden calf and worshiping it instead. What should be a great celebration of the honor and the goodness of God becomes an incident of terrible idolatry. And just as you might think what happens at a holiday meal when suddenly there's a big argument, everybody holds their breath going, "What's going to happen next?"



 Exodus 34.



 Exodus 34. I'm going to read a large portion so keep your seats.



 Verse 1.



 "The Lord said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets." What happened to the first tablets?



 You're even showing me with your hands. When Moses saw the immorality and revelry of those who were worshiping the golden calf, he took the tablets of the ten commands and he threw them on the ground to break them. Verse 4.



 "So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first, and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.



 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 fourth generation?"



 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped, and he said, "If now I found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance." And he that is the Lord said, "Behold, I am making a covenant.



 Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created on the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you."



 The Lord then goes back over. The commands that he has given before explains them even more fully to the people who have already turned away. And after the further explanation, verse 29, "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountains, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.



 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him. Moses talked with them.



 And afterward, all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.



 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining.



 And Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with him, that is the Lord. Let's pray together.



 Lord, we would see the radiance of your testimony.



 Even that radiance that was transferred to Moses, as you in ancient terms told us the gospel ever knew, that you would even take the holy radiance that is you, and you would pass it to someone who sought you.



 So we now seek you, not on our merit, not because of our holiness, but because of the holiness that we need from you.



 Pass to us the message of your goodness, we pray, that we may reflect your holiness for hearts that need it, hearts like ours. And so we seek you, in Jesus' name, amen.



 He extended his arm for the injection of carbolic acid, and it was not the first selfless act



 of Maximilian Kobe.



 At Auschwitz, the rule was, if one escapes, ten will die.



 On a July morning, one did not show up for roll call.



 And the commandant of the cap said, "The fugitive has not been found.



 Nine were chosen for the starvation chamber."



 And then finally, the tenth.



 And in shock and startled surprise, the one who was chosen to be the tenth cried out in anguish, "My wife, my children, how shall they live?"



 And at that point, Maximilian Kobe stepped forward and said to the commandant, "I am old.



 He has children.



 Take me."



 The man who was saved would later write, "I could only thank him with my eyes. To speak would have been death. I was taken back to my place. I was saved. I was stunned. The immensity of it. I, the condemned, am to live. And someone else willingly, voluntarily, offers his life for me."



 The man saved wasn't the only one to write.



 Weeks later, Maximilian Kobe with three others were the only still living in the starvation chamber. They have lived too long. The commandant in anger said, "Kill them now."



 And ordered the injection. And as the injection was being prepared, one of the workers who was to collect the bodies later wrote this.



 Father Kobe gave his arm to the executioner when he came in.



 Unable to watch, I left under the pretext of work to be done. Later I found Father Kobe, lifeless, leaning against a wall, his eyes open, his face calm and radiant.



 After Auschwitz, one of those who survived said, "Kolbe's death was a shock filled with hope.



 Bringing new life and strength, it was a powerful shaft of light in the darkness of the camp."



 We hear the words, "His face was radiant. It was a shaft of light into the darkness of the camp." And we recognize that the radiance and the light are reflections of the self-sacrifice of our Savior, reflecting His love for such as I as He took our place, life for life, the perfect one for the ones who would have been condemned by their sin.



 But lest you think that such provision is only for Moses or Father Kobe, what the passage is actually making sure we know is that the radiance of the provision of the hope of the gospel is not just for the condemned, but for the commandant who ordered it.



 Not just for the one who exchanged his life, but for the executioner.



 Not just for Moses, but for me and for you and all who would draw near to the Lord and say, "Give me your light."



 If you hear it in those terms, that the radiance is not just for Father Kobe, but the commandant, you recognize that the account is not meant just to be heroic, but preposterous.



 Should He be extended such grace? Should He be extended such mercy? Is there such mercy?



 And on what basis is it being offered?



 The answer we do not like to hear because what God is reminding us is that such grace is needed not just for the evil, but for every single one of us.



 After all, what is this account making clear? But that the law of God does not change even when we break it.



 And that applies to every single one of us. It's obvious that the people of God have broken the law. God gave the Ten Commandments, starting out by saying, "You shall have no other gods, and then you shall not make any graven images." And before Moses has even come down from the mountain with the law, what are they already doing?



 They have made a golden calf and are worshiping it. Now Moses is going to rewrite the laws that he himself has broken, but there's a message in that.



 It's not just the people who have broken the law.



 But Moses, who is so angry at them for their rebellion, takes what is holy, sacred, and he defiles it himself by casting it to the ground in rash rage.



 Even the psalmist and the Scriptures will later say that Moses at this point was in a rebellion of rashness, as though he sees the sin of the people and he tries to correct it by his own sin. It's like the mother who tries to create whining by whining.



 Will you please stop whining at me?



 Or the father who corrects disobedience with abusive disobedience, breaking the law even while trying to enforce it. There is none righteous, no not one in this entire account. It is not the people. It is not Moses. It is not Aaron the priest. No one qualifies for the goodness of God because they've all broken the law. And you know what God makes clear when He says in verse 1, "Moses, bring tablets again. I'm going to write the very same words."



 Is a simple truth.



 The law does not change just because you broke it.



 Some years ago I was going to a conference that was going to take several nights away from home and so in driving to the airport with a friend, we needed to find long-term parking. Neither of us had been to that parking lot before. But we followed the signs off the highway. We got to where we could see the parking lot, just off to our right, one problem.



 A sign staring us in the face that said, "No right turn."



 The parking lot was right there. It's 5.30 in the morning. There is nobody around. There is no reason that we can perceive not to turn right to the parking lot. The sign says, "No right turn." My friend said, "That doesn't apply to us."



 The policeman who wrote me the ticket did not agree.



 Just because you broke the law does not mean the law has changed or that it does not apply.



 When God is rewriting the law to these people, He is reminding them of every aspect of what has been given. These very people who are worshipping a golden calf are the ones who are ignoring every essential commandment of God. But He reiterates the first four just to make it plain. Verse 14, "You shall worship no other God." That's the first commandment again.



 Verse 17, "You shall not make any gods of metal." That's the second commandment again, not to make any graven image. Verse 18, "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread." Now we don't quite hear that the way an ancient Jew would have heard it. The feast of unleavened bread is the Passover. Remember, they had to go quickly, so they made no leavened bread after the angel of death had passed over them. And they were to repeat something in the Passover. Jews still repeat it today in the Passover celebration. There are four questions. Do you remember? Why is tonight unlike any other night? Why do we eat bitter herbs on this night and no other night? And the final answer to all the questions of the Passover is, why do we do all of these things?



 Because we were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord, Yahweh, our God, took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. The people of God, when they made their golden calf, do you remember what they said? This is the God that brought us up out of Egypt. And now we are told, God says to them, "You remember my name, and you honor my name by celebrating the feast of unleavened bread. I am Yahweh. I am the God who brought you out of the house of bondage, out of the land of Egypt. You remember it is Yahweh who is your God. You shall honor the name of your Lord, the Third Commandment."



 And finally in verse 21, "Six days you shall work, but the seventh you shall rest." The Fourth Commandment. You shall remember, I am to be honored and worshiped, and not a golden calf, and you are to be conscientious. And now you must know that even the people of God in that day would have felt, you know what? It's 5.30 in the morning.



 We haven't seen Moses for weeks. Nobody's holding us accountable. We're far out of Egypt. It won't matter if we break the law. And God is saying, "Just because you broke the law does not mean the law does not apply.



 It has not changed.



 You should worship God alone.



 Make no idols. Honor God's name. Be diligent in your worship." But God, that's just old-fashioned. Nobody does that anymore. Nobody considers that seriously. Other people break the law. I broke the law.



 Just because you broke the law does not mean that the law has changed.



 For me, one of the more compelling talks in this church lately was when George Barna came here with Child Evangelism Fellowship, and he gave us just kind of a wonderful understanding of the powerful impact of parents and respected adults upon their children. So much we hear in this day and age about the influence of social media and pop culture and peers upon our children. And yet the statistics simply say there is no more powerful influence upon children than their parents and respected adults. And that's still true. And that's not just a law in the Ten Commandments where God says, "Honor your father and mother." We have to have family relationships that are important to secure. It's a law of life.



 It's just the way things operate that we begin to recognize that there are powerful influences that we have in our homes to affect people for generations.



 And just because we dishonor the law does not mean that the law has changed.



 I mean, Barna just began to unfold. What does it mean for parents to have tremendous influence upon their children in a faithless culture to actually be effective in raising faithful children? He just began to spell out lots of things, but my takeaway was a simple phrase. He said, "Parents that are effective in raising faithful children in a faithless culture are those who have a plan and work the plan."



 What is the plan?



 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.



 Remember the name of the Lord to honor it.



 It was just spelled out so clearly that we have not said worship is out of fashion. It's something families do regularly and conscientiously. And we know all the pressures of the culture, the jobs that teens want, the travel sports teams, the lake houses, the other activities that draw us away from this place. We recognize how they happen. And yet if it becomes the model, the consistency of being not part of worship, of a family that does not prioritize it, there are just common effects.



 And so there are families who are conscientious in prayer at meals, consistent in worship and their kids involved in Sunday school and hearing the gospel from other respected adults.



 When we read Bible stories to our children at night.



 When we sing songs in our homes so that there's this, what Barna called, the oxygen of the gospel that's in our homes. And spiritual conversation is not something that happens at Christmas and Easter. But parents are talking to their children about how they're being obedient to the Lord, how God is supporting them. And there's this conversational oxygen of the spirit that's going on in the house all the time. And as a consequence, children simply begin to understand this faith is real and it's important. My wife Kathy gives a talk to young moms at times that she simply calls red is red.



 And it's just this simple that a child is growing up and you say, this color is red. Very few children say, no, it's not.



 That's red.



 And we teach our children the colors and red is red. And we teach them, Jesus is your savior and you're a sinner in need of salvation.



 And God will cover your sin and He will hold you and carry you through whatever life and children just grow up believing red is red.



 And Jesus is my Lord. And Jesus is one I can turn to and can run to and can ask us, forgive us. And it's real.



 And that reality, as Barna began to express it, happens very early and very powerfully because the beliefs that most people have by the age of 13 are the ones they will still embrace when they go to their graves. Do you know that? Now, is that everyone? No. But most people, the beliefs that are in them by age 13, they may challenge them later in life, they may turn from them at stages of life. But the beliefs that they had by age 13 are typically the beliefs that they will go to their grave with. And I want my children, you want your children to believe that red is red and Jesus is Lord.



 And we have a plan and we work the plan.



 And God's law does not change just because we break it.



 Now, there's a part of me that appreciates there's a plan that works.



 But there's another part of me that is discouraged when I recognize my failures, my inconsistencies, the times at which the rage came out of my mouth, not just out of my child's mouth.



 What do I do when I recognize God's law does not change even when we break it? I recognize this passage is also telling me God's love does not change just because we betray it.



 Yahweh didn't bring us out of Egypt.



 It was this golden calf that just sprung out of the fire.



 Yahweh did not give us man in the morning. It was the Egyptian gods.



 Yahweh is not our Lord. What has He done for us lately?



 And you see people who have been preserved from plague and Pharaoh and famine and they dishonor God.



 And how does He respond to their betrayal? Verse 5.



 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now just key words.



 The Lord came down. How many times do you see that in the Bible? It's not that we go up, not that we achieve, not that we climb such ladder. It's God who comes down, bending to our weakness, even coming near to those who are rebelling against Him. And what does He declare but His name and His nature? Verse 6. The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord!



 The Lord!" When a Hebrew wanted to emphasize something, he said it twice.



 The Lord Yahweh, the Lord Yahweh is 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.



 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.



 What is God saying about Himself when He comes down to express Himself to His people? First I'm going to tell you my name is Yahweh. Yahweh. I am. I am. I am without origin or end. My nature is unchanging. It's not caused by you. It's not changed by you. I am who I am, and what is my nature revealed in that name, but that I am merciful and gracious,



 slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. What does steadfast mean?



 Will not let go. I will not. My steadfast love endures forever. I will never leave you or forsake you. My love is steadfast, and that steadfast love is what God is making clear to His people that's to go deep into them and to their children's children.



 Love FaceTime if you're a grandparent, right?



 Because you can talk to those far away grandkids, and for us, we're able to actually hear our grandkids sing.



 One of our children is a musician, and that means the oxygen of Christian music is in their house all the time. And we got one of those FaceTimes recently, and the little four-year-old, Avon the girl, was singing a song that she'd been hearing in the house, just her little four-year-old voice.



 Steadfast, steadfast.



 We didn't know what it related to. It wasn't very musical, but it was steadfast.



 And then as we heard more from her and from her dad, we recognized that what was in the oxygen of the home was Sandra McCracken's song, "Steadfast."



 I will build my home, whether storm or drought, on the rock that does not move. I will set my hope in your love, O Lord, and your faithfulness will prove you are steadfast,



 steadfast.



 And God has sang that to a people who have run fast away from Him, saying, "But I am steadfast."



 And it's not just a song for children. For what Kathy and I know, because she was in our house growing up before she became a famous Christian musician, was what has happened in her life. She was married to an even more famous Christian musician who became faithless to God and to her.



 And her song continues, "In the absence of holiness, you are still God.



 In the hour of darkness, your light was revealed. You are steadfast, steadfast."



 It's what our hearts will need, even those who learned that red was red, when life becomes dark, to know there is light that can still shine. From a God who says, "I know your sin. I know your evil, your iniquity, your transgression, but I am steadfast."



 Knowing pardon, grace, mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me, even when there is sin in their lives. The significance of that message comes in different ways in this passage, really wonderful ways. First is simply by imbalance. Verse 7, I'll ask you to look there. "The Lord identifies about Himself 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 upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me."



 We don't like the last words.



 Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation. But we're back to just laws of life.



 We even know in our culture today, alcoholics tend to raise alcoholics. Abusers tend to raise abusers. Melesters tend to raise molesters.



 Anxious parents tend to raise anxious children. And we recognize that the oxygen in which you are raised typically is the air that you breathe. And that is so difficult for us to hear. Except, remember, the Lord is saying, "And yet showing mercy to a thousand," not just a thousand people, "to a thousand generations of those who love Me." As though the Lord is saying, "Here's the ratio. The consequences of sin, they can go to the third or the fourth generation. But here's the consequence of commitment to God. A thousand generations will be made to know My love, My safekeeping, My steadfastness." The imbalance is a thousand to four of God's willingness to maintain His covenant love and faithfulness, as if to say, "I know the consequences of sin upon generations, but you can break the cycle.



 The abuse does not have to continue. The addiction does not have to continue. Here comes the gospel. Your past does not define your future. I, the Lord, am showing My love, My steadfastness, My covenant care to a thousand generations of those who love Me, to break, as it were, the cycle of hatred that humanity itself will express against Me." Here is the great promise of the gospel saying, "I have an imbalance that's actually wonderfully good for you." But what bothers us in verse 7 is how God is making so clear that the consequences of sin have to be considered, that He actually puts words in verse of the earlier order that we've heard them. In chapter 20, when the first commandments were given the very first time, that second commandment about not making grave image had the words in it about God would visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.



 And then He followed it with the assurance, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me.



 Now it's inverted.



 Now in this particular place, we get the assurance before we get the warning. Why would God do that? Why would He put the warning last this time?



 Because the people have just been worshiping an idol?



 And so God is saying, "You must know that I will be faithful for a thousand generations,



 but you must consider the consequences of sin and know that there are effects upon you and upon your children that He will not hide." And that reality is warning for us. The Holy Spirit does that. Have you ever noticed that at times?



 You've got some Scripture in your background, and it's been there, never meant a lot to you and then either because of trauma or sin, it's like the Holy Spirit puts a spotlight on that and it suddenly means so much more to you than it did in the past. And here the Lord is saying the same. He's making sure that we hear the warning if we are the people who are falling into idolatry, who are falling away from taking care of our children or our own holiness. And so He puts the warning last to get change of behavior in this place. And what happens immediately after that warning, verse 8, "And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped and said, "If now I found favor in your sight, O Lord, please, Lord, go in the midst of us, for as stiff-necked people and pardon our iniquity and our sin, take us for your inheritance."



 Here's the immediate plea for pardon, "As though now hearing the warning which has been graciously given, Moses said, "We repent.



 God, be in our midst. Don't let us go this idolatrous way and forgive what we have done."



 It's the repentance that's being called for in our own hearts and lives. If we hear the warning with the grace and the goodness that's behind it, then we bow our heads quickly as though God could be speaking to your heart even now of the addiction or the abuse or the molestation or the neglect of His worship. And we say, "The time to correct this is not a year from now, is not a month from now, is not a week from now." Quickly now, quickly.



 I bow my head and I say, "Lord, change my pattern and forgive my past."



 If we begin to recognize that what is happening is that God is working in us with warning. It is for a reason, not just to tell us that God's love is not denied by our betrayal, but ultimately what He is making clear is His covenant shines through even when we do not shine.



 Did you catch that? The people have sinned. Moses has sinned. And what does God do? Verse 10.



 And He said, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. It's an awesome thing that I will do for you." For who?



 For golden calf worshipers.



 You have betrayed me.



 But I am made a covenant with you. And I am steadfast.



 And the evidence of that is that God not only renews His covenant with His people, but He ultimately reflects His glory in a rebel.



 We love verse 30, don't we? Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him.



 When Moses confessed his sin, he got a new skin, not out of a bottle.



 No laser treatments.



 Well, maybe God used a laser.



 It was something that was divine in itself that made him totally different in the appearance to others. The Lord's glory shines.



 He's been a rebel. He's defiled the commandments of God. And God makes glory shine through him. And the consequence is great for Moses, but you must recognize it as the gospel that's being represented. We're here in this Halloween week when people put on masks and here we are being told that God took one who was dark in his sin and made glory shine off of him. God's very glory, the glory that had been revealed on Sinai is now being reflected off of Moses, the rebel, to a people who have also rebelled as though God is saying, "Here is glory that can characterize you when I know who you really are." In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says it this way, that all who have been united to Christ by baptism have put on Christ.



 When we sin, particularly things that are immoral or impure that we do or that have been done to us, almost our mini-reaction, "I want to take a shower. I just want to wash and get it off of me." And in baptism by faith, we are saying to one another and the world the same thing, "I believe Jesus can wash me.



 My past made clear." And the Apostle says, "When by faith you are united to God in baptism, you're not just washed, you put on Christ."



 As though the mission impossible mask where somebody is taking his mask off and revealing a different identity is actually being put on.



 You're putting on Christ so that God looks at those of us who are sinful, wrong transgressors and says, "You know when I look at you, you look like Jesus.



 You look like my child. The goodness and the holiness of God is radiating through you." John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress simply says this way, "Every Christian has been provided a gospel mirror."



 On one side of the mirror is just a regular old reflection. You look at yourself and you see the wrinkles and the warts and the blemishes.



 But on the other side of the mirror is the image of Jesus Christ.



 And when God looks at us, He looks from that side of the mirror and says, "You are my child." Radiant in the image of Christ. Do you deserve that? I don't deserve that. No one deserves that. But it is the grace of the gospel as God says, "I will make you shine with a radiance that is not your own." What Moses himself is experiencing, and we begin to understand that when Moses begins to instruct the people, verse 31, "He called the people, all the leaders came to Him." Verse 32, "After it all the people came to Him and He commanded them all that the Lord has spoken." The one who is made radiant is now instructing people how they might become radiant, how their faces might change, how we might all have shining faces.



 And the Apostle Paul, when he reflects upon this account, says, "Because we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory." That in my salvation, God has let me put on Christ. But it doesn't mean that that's the end of His work, that there is no hope, there is no change, that when we are part of this oxygen of the Spirit, that what God is doing is helping us flex bone and tissue and muscle to begin to express even more glory. We are being transformed into greater and greater glory. And what that means is, as I look back at a life in which I have regrets, you have regrets, I begin to say, "Praise God, I am not what I shall be, but I'm not what I used to be either."



 Being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory, from Christ about me to Christ in me more and more each day. And what that means is that when I confess my sin, not only do I get a new skin, I get transformation for the families that need me and the friends who need to hear from me and the life that needs to change day by day to honor Christ.



 Is that just for Moses?



 Is that just for me, the preacher?



 No.



 It's the promise being made to all the people, including the worst of them.



 At the end of World War II, every soldier wanted to get home fast.



 One who was not allowed was Henry Gerichie, U.S. Army chaplain.



 Because he could speak German, he was assigned to Nazi prisoners being held for trial.



 He wanted to get home. Pressure was put on the Army to let him go home.



 And so the decision was put to him, "Do you want to go home now or continue to care for the 20 Nazis in your care?"



 The Nazi generals and leaders wrote to his wife, Mrs. Gerichie, "Your husband has been taking religious care of those who now sign this letter.



 We are asking you to put off your wish to gather your family around you for a little while.



 Your husband has become indispensable for us.



 We simply have come to love him.



 In this stage of our trial, it is impossible for any other man to speak through the walls of hatred that have been built around us.



 Please leave him with us a little while longer and we will be deeply indebted to you."



 Among the 20 who signed the letter were these four names, Hermann Göring, Julius Stryker,



 Alfred Rosenberg, Rudolf Hess.



 You recognize those names, don't you?



 The architects of the atrocities of Hitler.



 Gerichie actually extended communion to some of them, to those who would repent of their sin and confess the need of a Savior. Some wanted to take communion just out of superstition, kind of a charm to ward off the devil.



 But for those who would express real faith, seven of them, Gerichie extended communion.



 Was he wrong?



 How dare he extend the grace and the love of God to monsters until you say, "Who deserves the grace and love of God?"



 Listen, on your good days when you're satisfied with your behavior and your family and your credentials, you don't need such an account.



 But on the days when you have betrayed your love and wandered from your Lord and your sin is dark, you want to know you can confess your sin and put on another skin.



 And the radiance of the glory of Jesus will cover you. Praise God, identify the sin, confess it, repent of it, quickly, quickly, as Moses did,



 now is the time, not two weeks, not two days.



 Now, Lord, forgive us, we pray, for we who know Your law turn from it and turn from You, but You are steadfast.



 And may the steadfast love of the Lord that never falters be our reason to come to You again to confess our need and to ask Your strength. So we ask Jesus, forgive me and help me, walk with me, strengthen me, give me Your skin. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.