Thurs.’s Devo - The Golden Calf

Read: Exodus 32:1-33:23; Matthew 26:69-27:14; Psalm 33:1-11; Proverbs 8:33-36 Moses stayed on the mountain so long that the people began to think he wasn’t coming back. They pressured Aaron into making them a god to worship. Aaron caved to their requests and told them to all bring one of their gold earrings. He took the earrings and melted and molded them into a calf. He proclaimed that the next day they would have their own festival. The next day they did celebrate just like the people of Egypt celebrated. It turned into a wild orgy and the sound reached God’s ears. God told Moses and wanted to destroy them all. God interceded for the people and begged God to forgive them. What would the other nations think if He destroyed the very people he delivered were all destroyed in the desert. God listened and repented of his sentence. Joshua, who had come halfway up the mountain with Moses met him as he was coming down. Joshua warned Moses that it sounded like the people were in a war. Moses told him it was not the shout of victory or defeat, it was the sound of celebration. They walked right into the party and Moses got so angry he threw the stone tablets to the ground making a resounding crash. He took the golden calf they were worshipping and burned it then ground it into powder and threw it into the water and forced the people to drink it. Moses turned to Aaron and asked him what happened. Aaron’s explanation is laughable. He explained that he threw the gold into the fire and out popped this calf! Moses saw that the people were completely out of control and it was entertainment to their enemies. Moses made them choose sides. The ones on the Lord’s side were to come to Moses. All of the Levites gathered around Moses. He told them to take their swords and kill the others. Three thousand were killed that day. They had to kill their own sons and brothers. Moses told them that this was their ordination into God’s service. Moses went back on the mountain and repented for the people. God sent a plague to punish the rest of the people for what they had done. God sent Moses back with his commission to keep going to the Promise Land. God would not go with them because of their rebellious hearts. He knew he would end up killing them. Instead, He would send his angel to go with them. This angel would help them conquer their enemies. The people were so repentent they took off their jewelry and fancy clothes and refused to wear them again. Shame does this to people. They no longer felt like kings and queens. The fear of the Lord came upon the camp and the people would watch from the entrance of their tents as Moses went into the Tabernacle with the cloud of God’s glory following him. God promised to personally be with Moses because he knew him by name. He showed Moses his glory because he asked him to. This story helps me to understand that God is so willing to make himself known to those whose whole hearts are toward him. It is our choice as to how well we want to know the Lord. In Matthew, we see man’s intentions fall like a house of cards. Peter denies Jesus three times. Judas realizes his sin and tries to repent only to find out it is too late. He gives back the money and hangs himself. They take the money and use it to buy a field to bury foreigners in. Jesus is taken to Pilate, the Roman governor where he is questioned. Jesus doesn’t defend himself which surprises the governor. All of the pieces are falling into place even though it looks like a total loss. It often looks the worse right before the victory. That is where we are right now in history. What looks like disaster is just the end of the cards falling. It is time to sing a new song of victory because God has already won this! Lord, thank you for these stories that show us the frailty of man and the power of our great God. Thank you that you are the God of Victory.