Scripture

When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come on, make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what has happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

Observation

When Moses fails to return from the mountain top, people start agitating for Aaron to produce idols for them to follow. So Aaron takes some of the gold the Israelites had brought from Egypt, melts it down, and produces a golden calf. He then builds an altar, and the people celebrate with feasting and drinking.

The Lord tells Moses to go down and see what is happening. Moses goes down, sees the celebration and is consumed by rage. He burns the calf, crushes it to powder, mixes it with water and then forces the people to drink it.

Application

Idolatry is always close to the human heart. We can make idols out of anything, and worship them to the destruction of our relationship with the Lord.

An idol is anything that we place in higher value than our relationship with the Lord. It can be a physical idol, or it can be a less tangible thing such as family or work.

The problem for the Israelites was the length of time that Moses was up the mountain. The visible embodiment of the presence of the Lord seemed to have abandoned them. So they looked for an alternative.

How often do we get discouraged because the Lord does not deliver for us in the time scale or in the way we expect? It is in those time gaps that our trust is tested and temptation confronts us.

Prayer

Lord, it is hard to trust when you seem to be slow in answering my prayers. Please help me to trust you and wait. Amen.