Exodus 32:1-4
When the
people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they
gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As
for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has
happened to him.”
Aaron
answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your
daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He
took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf,
fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who
brought you up out of Egypt.”
Moses, the appointed leader to the Israelites has been sequestered,
isolated and insulated by the presence of God on the mountain of God's
choosing. God's intention to reveal his
glory to Moses, to encourage and equip Moses, to instruct and prepare the
people for the encounter ahead; a journey that would dispose nations and give
possession to the Israelites. The
fulfillment of the promise spoken to Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Moses is gone for 40 days, let's say almost 6
weeks. So what happens; a golden calf is
erected, an object of worship. The
people that had just been freed from bondage, somehow find themselves migrating
to idol worship. The question that has recently been on my mind is, how quickly
did they start thinking, contemplating, collecting items of gold, to fashion
this idol. I mean, it takes time to
collect all these items, and fashion it into an object, an object of false
worship I must add. This animal; this
object of worship did not just "pop out of the fire" as Aaron tried
to convince Moses was the account that took place.
Can we walk away that quickly from what God is doing if we
"feel" God is not moving "fast" enough? If somehow we allow our thoughts and convince
ourselves that the endeavors, the plans, the vision, the promise is taking to long, can we walk away? Can we too start our own "construction
project"?
How long were the people of God thinking about this evil thing; were
they distracted quickly, shortly after Moses went up the mountain? The Book of
James says; "each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their
own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth
to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James
1:14-15). Interesting, this generation died in the wilderness.
How long did they "stay in the way of sinners" or "sit
with mockers". What kind of counsel
were they listening too? (Psalm 1) These
are God's people who have crossed over; the enemy is dead, buried in a water
grave. Who's conversation and thoughts
are they entertaining?
While Moses is in the presence of the Lord, they overlook that God is
Omni-present and with them as well.
Their hearts became darkened and they exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for an image made to look like an animal (Romans 1) The heart of
worship must bend toward the one True God; the object of our worship must be
the Lord but instead they listened to the quiet whispers and lies of Satan and
they begin bowing. Their reverence was
stolen by a cheap imitation that has no ability to give life.
The goal was to wait until Moses returned and worship Jehovah God while
he's away. But God's time table was not
sufficient. God who revealed himself in
the cloud and by fire-- is Spirit. They
wanted their physical eyes to see what God had already revealed by his Spirit
and thus missed--BIG TIME!
Is there something currently taking to long? We assume the timetable is
a little off. We begin to think, have
we missed the fulfillment of God's promise; perhaps a vision that's about to
come to fruition? Do we assume that things are stagnate when actually birth is
about to take place? If we are not
careful, we will miss it; we will begin to make new plans, divert from what God
has spoken.
It's a dream that he has given us, a plan that we've held on to, a
prophetic word, a vision, a promise and we are about to cross over. Do we wait or do we erect a new object of
worship, a quick "fix", something to satisfy the flesh when indeed it
is the spirit that longs for what God is about to do.
The psalmist in Psalm 5:3 says, In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
I pray that we hold on to the promises that God has given us. Each of us is keenly aware of what God has
spoken. He has been specific...has he not?
Help us to wait on you and to surrender our heart, a heart of worship
totally unto you. We want to cross over;
we want the inheritance and promise of your Word! We don't want to miss you and we don't want
to entertain whispers that are not from you. Help us to wait Lord...help us to
trust; it's almost here and we will miss it if we run before you. They that
wait upon the Lord; their strength will be renewed and a song of praise will
come forth.
God bless you!~Liz
