Exodus 32 - Other gods

Have you ever waited on God - for a really long time?  What did you do in the wait?  Do you keep on believing or do you give into peer pressure to abandon God?  In this chapter we find that the Israelites don't do well in their wait for Moses to return from the mountain. They return to old ways of idolatry and deeply offend God. 

I think one of our hardest tasks is to wait. We want to see results immediately, but our activity in the wait reveals our true nature and either brings God glory or condemns us in our faithlessness. We can learn from the Isrealites a few lessons so that we don't repeat their poor choices, but we also learn something of Gods character and how he is offended by and judges sin. 

Lessons from the Israelites

One thing I learn from the Israelites is that I am in my heart so much like them. I am impatient and prone to start looking for other solutions in my wait. I try to affect the results I want in my own power, rationalizing along the way that this is what God would want me to do. I look to advice of others and eagerly seek their suggestions for solution. 

I am prone to giving up on God (while still claiming to be His). My solutions are often as idolatrous as the nation of Israel, because think about it - if God is not the source of my deliverance it is from another source and that is against God. 

Aaron was quick to give into public pressure. It is so hard to stand against the masses when they have turned against God. I think that is why we hesitate to tell people about the love of Jesus Christ and the hope he offers to save us from God's wrath against our sin. 

We need to take the High way and stay on it. We need to look to God in our time of waiting and pray all the more for His intervention. We also need to be guarded about the advice we receive. Does it align with what we know God's direction to be or is it from another source?

God's Character

We see in verse 7 that God is altogether aware of the corruption taking place. He sees it in you and me and He saw it in the Israelite camp. If God ever asks us what we are doing it is not because He doesn't know; it is because He wants us to admit it. 

God calls the people stiff necked (Ex 32:9). They stubbornly resisted God's leadership and were quick to return to their idols if Egypt. To some degree they left their heart in Egypt and wanted to avoid the hard path of Holy living.

God's anger burned in Him against the betrayal if His people. They were His and He had gone to great lengths to deliver, preserve and protect them, yet they demonstrated no loyalty, no gratitude. 

Moses Intervention

Ultimately the penalty for sin is death.  If we do not have a Savior who can stand in the gap and accept the penalty for our sin we have no hope. 

Moses offered to be that person before God, but he couldn't redeem the nation. He was sinful himself. 

The only hope was that God would relent if his wrath to preserve His name among the other nations. No doubt the people deserved judgement, but if God's people were destroyed, what hope would the rest of the world have?  God had given promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He couldn't allow them to go unfulfilled. 

Moses returned from the mountain and his own anger was so great that he broke the laws given to him by God and called for an oath of allegiance that those who were for God exercise war against those against Him. The war was not started by the Levites as we see in Ex 33:18 that Joshua reported there were sounds of war among the people. But to be sure, when you fight on God's side you are in the winning side. Many fools perished that day for actively opposing God and I am sure with the subsequent plague of judgment in the people many more perished for walking away from God. 

My reader friend, sin is an abomination to God and it's end is death and hell. As Chrisitians we must forgive, but we must also point others away from sin. To be more personal, we must never give excuses or justify sin in our own lives. We must call it by name and put sin to death or it will cast us into death. Don't discount sin but take you sword to it. The word of God us sharper than any sword. Apply it daily and sin cannot stand. 

Finally dear friend, be prepared to stand against the tide. Many seek their own ways and believe they can approach God on their own merit but we must have our feet firmly planted in our faith in God. Do not waiver and don't give up in out waiting. The Lord's return is soon. Be ready. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him.