While Moses was at the mountain, the Israelites grew tired of waiting and asked Aaron to make gods for them; they did not know what had happened to Moses and why he was taking so long with God at the mountain. Forty days and nights have passed and they have heard nothing from Moses, they wanted a god they could see, so they said to Aaron;
“Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.” Exodus 32:1
So Aaron told them to break off their gold earrings and bring them to him. The people did this and brought the gold to Aaron. Aaron received these earrings and fashioned it with a graving tool into a golden calf. The people of Israel began to celebrate this image, declaring it as the gods which led them out of Egypt.
The Israelites offered burnt offerings to the golden calf and sat down to eat, drink and to play. Exodus 32:6
This was a clear act of disobedience, prior to this in Chapter 20, in the Ten Commandments, the first commandment was to have no other gods except Jehovah.
“Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Exodus 20: 3-4
While they made a golden calf, worshipped it and sacrificed to it, God sent Moses back to the people; he saw what they had done and how they had corrupted themselves. God called them a stiff-necked people (Exodus 32:7-9).
To be stiff-necked in this context is to firmly or stubbornly adhere to one’s purpose, an unyielding attitude, an inflexible persistence or to be haughty (disdainfully proud). Despite the many signs and wonders God used Moses to perform before the people all through the journey from Egypt, these people doubted the power of God every step of the way and continually sinned whenever things got difficult. Annoying right?
The Israelites disobeyed God because they were stiff-necked; they almost lost God’s glory upon their lives but for the timely intercession of Moses (Exodus 32:10-14).
Yet sometimes aren’t we all like the Israelites? Sometimes we allow the pressures of life and quest for comfort get the best of us, we find ourselves glorifying our careers, accomplishments, education, and marriage instead of glorifying our Creator. We idolize objects, properties, houses, cars, people, celebrities, business moguls, and billionaires instead of looking up to God. Sometimes waiting for God seems hard and we run out of patience and look for alternatives outside of God.
Why should we wait?
The Israelites thought they were abandoned and alone, Moses was nowhere in sight and they felt they needed to do something. Meanwhile God was preparing them for the future, He was giving Moses instructions on the tabernacle, the ark and the Priests, and the altar. He was preparing a place of worship where the people could come before him, but because the people were not seeing Moses and God at the time, they felt that they needed to do something. Sometimes we don’t have to do anything but wait.
We need to trust that God is faithful and He will never fail those who wait on Him. The Israelites lost their patience because they lacked faith.
They failed to appreciate all what God had been doing in their life and refused to trust in His promise to bring them to the promise land. They quickly forgot all the commandments God had given them, and the bountiful benefits of serving God (Exodus 23: 25-26). They chose to serve a molten image rather than the Living God. Whenever we choose not to wait on God, and do things our own way we are doing just what the Israelites did.
What should we do while we wait?
We pray, we praise, we worship and we study.
Here are three things I noted from today’s passage:
God is faithful, even in times of confusion, when we feel we’re alone and lost. Have faith and trust that He is at work in your life.
Let your hope rest in God alone, looking for alternatives outside God will lead to sin and sin robs us of our blessings.
When in doubt, remember all God has done, give thanks and worship Him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to focus solely on you and give thanks even when we don’t understand what is happening in Jesus Name. Amen.
References;
The Holy Bible, King James Version, Exodus 20:3-4, 23:25-26, 32:1-35
