When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:1-14 ESV)
The people had just been through an amazing ride, well ok walk…
They were led out of Egypt and through the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptian army was killed in the chase. Then God provided food for their journey…
Now Moses and God are on the mountain… and the people are getting anxious, they need something to occupy them. Interestingly it is just like us. We need to be entertained, ask a school teacher how hard it is to maintain the attention of a student with the fast paced society we live in. They needed something, just like us to focus on…
So what is the focus of your life? What is the one thing that takes the seat of adoration in your temple? What is the thing you would sacrifice everything else for?
Here we see the Israelites giving up their plunder from Egypt to make a god, something they can see and worship and focus on. They were willing to give up everything, or were they? Did they realize by doing this they were damaging their relationship with the one who led them here? Did they know that their need for a focal point was destroying the relationship God had built with them. That by doing this little thing, this thing that shouldn’t really matter they were causing a rift in the relationship. I mean what does it really matter if their gold was in their ears, on their fingers, or in the form of a calf they could carry with them? It is the position of their hearts!
So what is on that seat in your life? What takes center stage for you?
If your not sure look at your bank statements and see where your hard earned money goes, because that can give you a clue where your devotion is. Where does your money go. Jesus said where your treasure is, their your heart will be also… If you can give your treasure to God, he will return it to you in many many times over…
I pray that God himself will be your golden calf.
aSacredRebel 