In Exodus 32:32 there is an astounding mystery contained there. It is not found in a word . . . but in a dash. It is a dash found after the word “sin”. The Hebrew symbol used for that dash… or in some translations ellipses… in that and only a few other places, is “aposiopesis“, which basically means, “a sudden breaking off in the midst of a sentence, as if from inability or unwillingness to proceed.”
Ex 32:32
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ─; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
KJV
There are times that come to every leader that are so disturbing . . . so troubling . . . that we can’t talk to or explain it to anyone else. No one would understand; or they would at least condemn or accuse us. The only one you can say it to . . . and be gut-level open and honest and withholding nothing . . . is God.
Moses was leading a people that had sinned greatly against God. But in his supplication with God . . . the Lord made sure that the essence of the prayer was recorded, but there were some parts too deep and personal that Moses said to God that God did not allow the translators to record. God kept it between He and Moses . . . and left us with only the mystery contained in the long dash found in Exodus 32:32.
I have been there when I cried out to God in the midst of my dilemma and where I said things to God that I would never have wanted anyone else to hear. There I have admitted my weaknesses, failures, fears, feelings toward others, and yes even my anger at God. I believe it is at that place of open facedness before the God who understands the thoughts and intents of our heart that He stamps His seal of approval upon our honesty. Once this is done it always leads to a place for repentance.
Every child of God needs to remove the facade when speaking to God in the times of trouble. Get alone as if in a closet. We are not fooling Him with our words or demeanor. God wants us to enter a place of relationship and prayer with a dash experience that is just between you and God. It is there where heaven moves on your behalf.
Above all else be real with God.
Seed thought from J. T. Pugh and Dr. Fred Childs