The Gread Sin (Ex. 32:1-6)

8/4/2008 7:46 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  The great sin

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 32:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."  2  Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."  3  Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.  4  He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."  5  Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."  6  So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”

            Today begins a new chapter in Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Delivered,” which is his commentary on Exodus.  The title of the chapter is “A Broken Heart And A Shining Face.”  This chapter has to do with what may have been the most difficult time of Moses’ ministry to the children of Israel.  The first section is called “Guilt:  God’s people break the law, and it covers from Exodus 32:1-33:1-6.  This is the section about the sins of Israel when Moses was up on the mountain and the people down below began to sin because the three times they had told Moses that they would obey all that the Lord had told them was not really true in their lives for they had been exposed to idol worship in Egypt and it was still in their hearts.

            Impatience was what prompted the sin of the children of Israel for they did not truly trust the Lord while Moses was gone up on the mountain.  Moses was gone for forty days receiving the Law from the Lord and although this was a long time these people had seen many miracles from the Lord and by this time should have had a great trust in the Lord. 

            Aaron was another big problem here for he was the one who was in charge when Moses was away.  “But to the elders he said, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, let him approach them.’”  These were the words Moses spoke in Exodus 24:14.  Aaron would have been destroyed by the Lord if Moses had not interceded for him, “The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.”  (Exodus 9:20)  Exodus chapter nine is a review by Moses to the next generation of all that happened that was given by Moses to them because it had been almost forty years since these things had happened and in some ways it give more insight to what happened.

            There are some people who would say that Aaron was making a god that truly represented the true God, but this is probably not the case and even if it were in Exodus 20:4-5 God tells them and us that this should not be done.

            Israel was acting just like the heathen nations that they were suppose to be ministering to and therefore this makes it all the worse for with more blessings from the Lord more responsibility is given and Israel was truly blessed in many ways.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  My toes were really stepped upon from this section in two ways.  First I am a believer that has not displayed a lot of patience at least until the money that I was counting on to retire was taken away from me and then the Lord began to develop more patience in me.  The second thing that has convicted me from this passage is that the children of Israel reverted back to the way they were while living in Egypt as it has been said it took only a few days for God to take Israel out of Egypt, but it took forty years to take Egypt out of Israel.  While an unbeliever the sexual sins along with swearing were two things that I had trouble with the most.  After being converted in 1974 God immediately took the swearing away from me but not the sexual sins and they have been a struggle for me ever since.  They keep me humble before the Lord and dealing with them has taught me much, but sometimes I wonder if they would have been taken away when I first became saved would have been easier, but God knows best.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Put on my spiritual armor.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my steps.
3. Trust the Lord to see us safely to the place where we are to celebrate our 35^th wedding anniversary.
4. Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing.

Memory verses for the week:                      Exodus 20:1-5

1. Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2.   I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3. You shall have no other gods before Me.
4. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and forth generation of those who hate me.

8/4/2008 8:49 AM