The Character of God 

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; or, faithfulness.  Exodus 34:6 

Moses went up the mountain, at God’s request and he was there for 40 days and 40 nights.  Exodus 24:18 

Moses’ absence caused the Israelites, an obstinate people, to tell Aaron to make them a god, which turned out to be a golden calf.  Exodus 32 

Moses was so frustrated with the people, when he came off the mountain with the Ten Commandments etched on stone tablets, that he threw them down, and shattered them, in his anger!  Exodus 32:19 

God was ready to reject the people, but Moses pleaded with Him to forgive them, and to continue to be present with them in their journey to the land of milk and honey.  Exodus 33 

Moses asked God, “Show me Your glory!” The Lord God Almighty arranged it for him, by placing Moses in the cleft of a rock, and putting His hand over it as He walked by, so that Moses would see only His backside!  To see God’s face would have meant death for Moses!  Exodus 33:17-23 

As it was, when God showed Moses only His backside, Moses’ face reflected God’s glory to the extent that he had to cover it when he came back to camp!  Exodus 34:29-35 

This dazzling glory of God is also expressed in His character and His attributes, and, as He walked by Moses, He shared, verbally, His character traits – compassion and grace, long-suffering and love, faithfulness, forbearance, and justice.  Each of these is clearly portrayed by Jesus in his relation to mankind, while He was on earth. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, each one is available to us.  You can compare them with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. 

Omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence are among God’s attributes, and these are what man would like to have, as shown by the popularity of super-heroes, who all have some of these traits, whether they show any character, or not. 

From my perspective, God’s character traits are those that we, as humans, can emulate.  The attributes are those that only God can exhibit.

We can see the importance of the character traits when we see how often they are repeated, throughout the Bible.  They can be seen in various forms in Num 14:18, Deu 4:31, Psa 103:8, Psa 108:4, Psa 145:8, Joel 2:13, and Rom 2:4.  It is clear, with this repetition, that God wants us to be aware of them, and we are encouraged to practice them in our daily lives, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 5:1ff 

So, how are you doing with compassion and grace, long-suffering and love, faithfulness, forbearance and justice, in your own life, and in your relationships with those around you?