Thurs.’s Devo - The Golden Calf

Read Ex. 32:1-7 Moses has been up in the mountain with the Lord for a while and the people are getting antsy. They have seen the power Moses had with his God and now they want a god for themselves. It sounds to me like they were being stirred up by Satan to jealousy. Aaron might have felt a little left out himself or jealous too so he took this opportunity to be the leader. He told the people to give him their earrings. Apparently everyone wore earrings. So everyone in the family could give to this idol. With the gold from the earrings he took a special tool and fashioned a calf and gave the calf to the people. Then he told then to worship this calf because it was what delivered them from Egypt. He built an altar for it and proclaimed a feast for the next day to celebrate. So the next day they offered sacrifices and peace offerings and had a party. Meanwhile, God interrupted his time with Moses and told Moses to get back down because the people had corrupted themselves. I want to say it is amazing that they had just witnessed all the miracles of the plagues, the Red Sea, the fiery mountain, (which was still in plain view), God’s audible voice, and countless other miracles, only to so quickly get off track and go after a new god; but experience has told me it is not so amazing. I look at my own life and see the fear and stress I have been under since the death of my mother and am tempted to get really defeated. The truth that I know is that when we are in a storm we only need Jesus in our boat. He can stand up and say, “peace be still” and the waters will obey. Lord, help us to take the authority you have given us in your Word and speak to our mountains instead of giving up and following the way of the world.