February 11 - Exodus 32:1-34:35

Good morning everyone, 

Yesterday when we left off reading, Moses had just headed down from Mount Sinai carrying two stone tablets; inscribed on them the terms of the covenant etched into the stone by the finger of God himself. 

Now, Moses had been gone a long time, at least it seemed that way to the Israelites and they became restless and bored. The Lord told Moses 32:6-7 ““Quick! Go on down, for your people that you brought from Egypt have defiled themselves, and have quickly abandoned all my laws”. It hadn’t taken long for the Israelites to violate their commitment to God. They went to Aaron and told him to make some gods who could lead them, and Aaron did just that. He collected all the gold earrings, melted them down and molded them into a gold calf.

For a moment, let’s take a look at Aaron. Here we have a man who has gone before Pharaoh, albeit as a team with his brother Moses, but still several times they stood boldly before the leader of Egypt and made demands on behalf of God. Now all he has to do is maintain order while Moses goes up and talks with God and he fails. I’ll be honest, I was a little surprised that he did not stand up for God, that he wasn’t more solid in his faith, at how easily he gave into the Israelites and made them a golden calf; and then …. which floored me even more, he lied about it when Moses got back, saying he threw the gold into the fire and out popped a gold calf. Really!? Did he seriously think that would fly?

The lesson I got from this is that no matter how close I believe, you believe, we believe we are to God, we are only one poor choice away from turning our back on the God who loves us and worshiping false gods. The enemy delights in tempting us, backing us into a corner, using our peers to pressure us into poor decisions until he achieves victory in getting us to compromise our beliefs. Beware!! His traps, his snares are everywhere just waiting to trip you up.

When Moses and Joshua got back to the camp he was so angry with the behavior of the Israelites that he threw the tablets to the ground smashing them, but still he will plead with God for the lives of the Israelites. God relents and will even drive their enemies out of the land He has promised them however the families would suffer for their sin for generations. It is much the same as growing up with an alcoholic, or abusive parent. You learn what you see, what you live, you may even think it is normal behavior; but it is not, it is sin and it can sometimes take generations for the sinful pattern to be broke. 

Well, Moses would go back up the mountain and God would give him a second set of tablets to carry with them through the desert. ~ In doing this reading today the Lord reminded me that as Christians we are representatives of God. That is to say, when people who are not Christians are looking at us and the way we behave, they are going to think “so that is how a Christian would handle that situation?” Now, no one is perfect but having said that, it is critically important that we do not do or say anything that would not only stumble a new child in Christ but also we do not want to give a non-believer any reason to think “hypocrite”, right. I was encouraged to check my behavior always, I would encourage you to do the same. 

I pray you have a great day. To God be the glory!

God bless you all