READING: Exodus 32:1-34:35
I have written about the folly of idolatry many times before—but you almost can’t avoid the topic when you’re reading through the Word (especially the Old Testament). Once again today, I am both amazed by how easily we human beings fall into idolatry and convicted by just how foolish those actions are. Today’s reading takes us to one of the best-known moments of idolatry for the Hebrews: their building a golden calf while Moses remained on the mountain with the true God. Here are some things that grab my attention:
- How quickly people who recently saw God’s power turned instead to the paganism around them – showing both the fickle nature of their trust and the lure of idolatry
- How a perceived “delay” (that is, the people didn’t like how long Moses had been on the mountain) led not to trust but to rebellion
- How easy it was to turn to a “religion” that invited feasting, drinking, and “pagan revelry” (Exo 32:6)
- Despite Aaron’s exclamation that the golden calf seemingly just appeared, the fact that this was a god the people made with their own hands – a god who could not lead them and certainly could not protect them from a plague at the hands of the true God
- Just how holy and forgiving the true God is – the God who keeps His word to His people even when they don’t keep their word to Him
- How deeply personal God’s relationship with Moses is, contra the fundamental inability of the golden calf to have any relationship with the people who worshiped it
Then, I’m reminded that we’re often like the Hebrews. We struggle with trusting when God seems to delay His response. We’re too easily influenced by a pagan world around us. We cling to gods we create on our own—the “stuff” we work toward and live for. And, we too often would prefer a “religion” that gives us freedom to live as we wish. But . . . and here’s the good news: God still draws us to Himself, forgives us, and allows us to start again. He is a gracious, gracious God.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How do you handle God’s seeming “delays” in your life?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “God, show me the power and the folly of idolatry today. Show me my idols.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Exodus 35:1-36:38