Fri.’s Devo - The Party’s Over

Read Ex. 32:8-25 God sends Moses back down the mountain to discipline the people who couldn’t stay faithful for 40 days! God wanted to just annihilate all of them and start over but Moses interceded for the people. If God killed all the people he so miraculously delivered from the Egyptians, what would the Egyptians say when they hear that God took them out to kill them. Moses reminded God of the promises he had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel of a multiplying their seed as the stars of heaven. So the Lord repented of the plan to destroy them. That is the power we can have with God as intercessors and that is why it is so important to know what God has promised so you can use them to remind the Lord. So Moses left with the tablets God had written and the visions he had in his mind of the heavenly priesthood and started his climb down the mountain. He picked up Joshua who had been patiently waiting and they headed toward camp. They could hear the party and Joshua thought it sounded like a war. But Moses knew what was going on because God had told him they had made a molten calf and were worshipping it. As soon as they got close enough to see what was going on with their own eyes Moses was so mad he took the stone tablets and threw them down and broke them (just as the people had already broken them in their hearts). Then Moses took the golden calf and ground it into powder and mixed it with water and made the people drink it. Moses approached his brother, Aaron, and asked him what the people had done to him to entice him to do such an abomination. Aaron tried to blame the people who were “set on mischief” and Moses because he was gone so long. Then he told the most preposterous lie in the Bible. He told Moses he gathered the earring of the people and the calf just jumped out! Moses looked around and saw that the people were naked like the Egyptians were when they worshipped their idols. Aaron had just failed Leadership 101. Lord, raise up intercessors like Moses to pray for our nation and the nations of the world. Help us to repent and not cast blame on others. Give us leaders who will take responsibility.