Life Groups // Winter 2024 // Week 9

Posted March 8, 2024 — Lincoln Berean

God’s Transforming Presence // Exodus 33:17-34:35

Introduction

In Exodus 33:17-34:35, God assures Moses of his favor and reveals His glory and character while reaffirming the covenant made with His people. This passage explores themes of God’s promises and commitments, His relationship to the Israelites, and the balance of His mercy and justice.  

To think through the main ideas in the sermon and prepare for your discussion together, we invite you to look over all the questions on the following pages and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group. Due to preferences over a wide range of groups, we do not expect you will cover every question each week.

Warm Up (Suggested time: 30 min)

1) What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?

2) How did you and your best friend meet? 

Getting Started

1) Open group discussion with prayer. Here are a few potential prayer items: 

a. For the Spirit of God to lead you in truth 

b. For the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in your lives 

c. For grace to hear and apply what the Spirit says to you  

2) Choose someone to read the passage aloud for the group.  

Study Questions (Suggested time: 40 min)

1) What did you find most interesting in this passage of scripture or in this week’s sermon? 

2) In recent chapters, God has taken the position of a judge over His people in their time of disobedience and rebellion, and Moses has been a mediator who intercedes for them. However, in this week’s passage, we see the beginning of a time of restoration for the Israelites’ relationship to God. How do we see God planting seeds of restoration for the flourishing of His people in this week’s passage?  

Exodus 33:17-23 shows growth in the relationship between Moses and God: Moses humbly seeks to experience God’s glory, and God carefully and mercifully reveals it to him. Is it challenging for you to seek the experience of God’s glory in your life? Why or why not?

Moses’s growth is shown in his willingness to boldly ask God to show Himself. Is there anything that you are afraid to ask God for? If you are willing, share it with your group.

3) In Exodus 34:6-7, God makes some remarkable and decisive statements about His own characteristics and identity. Take a moment to read through these and reflect on His character. Which of these self-identified qualities of God do you find particularly surprising, puzzling, awe-inspiring, or worthy of praise?

We are told that God “forgives wrongdoing… yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,” exploring His sense of justice and righteous retribution as well as His merciful and forgiving nature. How do we manage the tension between these two seemingly opposite traits?

How can we find comfort in following a God who cares about justice and takes sin seriously? 

4) In Exodus 34:29-35, Moses’ intimate interaction with God caused his face to glow. While our faces might not glow, what are ways that your relationship with God has changed you? 

Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 together with your group. Unlike Moses, Paul tells us in v. 18 that we have the privilege of unceasingly (unveiled) gazing upon the glory of the Lord and are, in turn, transformed from glory to glory. What are some helpful ways you have found to dwell on who Jesus is and, thus, behold the glory of the Lord?  

Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 as a group. Paul is helping his readers consider how to follow Jesus in the midst of struggle. He tells them that God intends to use “light momentary afflictions” to produce in us an eternal weight of glory. How have you seen God use trials in your life to help you become more like Jesus? Does this knowledge help you face current trials with more hope? 

Personal Spiritual Exercises

Just like physical exercises help strengthen and stretch our bodies for healthy living, these spiritual exercises are meant to move us spiritually in ways that may be new so we might experience inner growth. Since God longs for us to experience Him with our whole selves—mind, body, spirit—we invite you along each week to strengthen your souls with suggestions and prompts. Next week in Life Group, take a few moments to share how the Lord may have used this exercise in your life.

Scripture Focus: Spend some time this week reflecting on the qualities of God that He names in Exodus 34:6-7. Consider how you can watch for these things to appear in your life and in the world around you, and how you can praise God for these parts of His identity. (A great resource for this reflection is a video from The Bible Project titled “Visual Commentary: Exodus 34:6-7” which you can find through this link: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/character-of-god-exodus/ ) 

Prayer Focus: Pray 2 Corinthians 12:9 over the course of this week and reflect on how God may be showing His strength even in the moments when you are weak. Ask Him how His grace can transform you day by day to point toward His power and sufficiency.

Prayer (Suggested time: 20 min)

A significant part of “coming together” is being open and honest with our lives. Sitting in a group of people for prayer may be new or it may be familiar to you. If you would rather not pray aloud when it is your turn, feel free to pray silently and then say “Amen” aloud signaling the next person in the group to pray. Whether or not you choose to verbalize your prayer, everyone is a participant in sharing this time before God together. 

Take a few moments to prepare a prayer request. What did the message, working through the above questions or the discussion cause you to notice about your own relationship with Jesus? Would you be willing to share your prayer request with the group?