Second Chances Series

Pastor John Ortberg writes about the time he and his wife went fly-fishing for the first time: He says:

“Our guides told us that ‘to catch a fish you have to think like a fish.’ They said that to a fish life is about the maximum gratification of appetite at the minimum expenditure of energy. To a fish, life is ‘see a fly, want a fly, eat a fly.’ A rainbow trout never really reflects on where his life is headed. A girl carp rarely says to a boy carp, I don't feel you're as committed to our relationship as I am. I wonder, do you love me for me or just for my body? Fish are just a collection of appetites. A fish is a stomach, a mouth, and a pair of eyes.”

Ortberg says, “While we were on the water, I was struck by how dumb the fish are. Hey, swallow this. It's not the real thing; it's just a lure. You'll think it will feed you, but it won't. It'll trap you. If you were to look closely, fish, you would see the hook. You'd know once you were hooked that it's just a matter of time before the enemy reels you in.

“You'd think fish would wise up and notice the hook or see the line. You'd think fish would look around at all their fish friends who go for a lure and fly off into space and never return. But they don't. It is ironic. We say fish swim together in a school, but they never learn.

“Aren't you glad we're smarter? (John Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be, Zondervan, 2010,, pp. 137-38; www.PreachingToday.com).

Or are we? How often do people get caught by their own appetites, which the enemy uses to reel them in? Do you find yourself hooked by sin? Then I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 34, Exodus 34, where God restores a whole nation hooked by sin.

Exodus 34:1-4 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, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 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 (ESV).

Moses had broken the first tablets of stone, containing the 10 Commandments, because Israel had broken God’s Law. Now, in response to Moses’ intercession, God forgives the nation and gets ready to renew the covenant they had broken on new tablets of stone.

Exodus 34:5-9 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.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have 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” (ESV).

God reveals His character—His name—and Moses responds with worship and prayer. In light of God’s mercy and grace, Moses asks for God’s presence, God’s pardon, and God’s possession of the nation as His own.

Tell me. How can Moses pray for such bold requests? It’s because God reminds Moses about the character of the God he serves. God had revealed His character when he first gave the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:5-6. There, He talked about visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children first and then described His steadfast love. Here, He talks about His steadfast love first, adding a much fuller description, before he describes visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children.

In light of Israel’s recent rebellion, God wants to emphasize that He still loves them, even though their sin will have serious consequences for three or four generations to come. So, if you are hooked by sin and want God to set you free, start there.