Post by cspain03 on Jul 17, 2014 13:47:51 GMT
So much stood out to me !!! So, please be patient with me...here we go:
First off, in general, I just can't understand how a people who had witnessed and benefited from SO many blessing from God could fall so far from Him because they were impatient. But then I think about us as a people, specifically our generation, and I can see how it could happen. God was having a lengthy conversation with Moses, we have no idea how long Moses was on the mountain with God, but apparently too long for the Israelites! How often do we get impatient with God. We see Him work things out for us personally or for someone else we know/are close to and we're waiting for Him to show up in our lives/give some type of instruction ... and we are waiting, and waiting, and...finally we just get tired of waiting and proceed to do our own thing. We know God said He would provide, He's done it before, and there was a process (in their case it always involved Moses giving directions or conveying a message from God). So why can't we just hold on and wait on God? Why do we think "we got this" or "Imma just do me/my own thing" and feel like that's OK or good enough. We've got to learn patience, and TRUST I know it's not easy and the minute you genuinely pray for patience God will test you in that area and will require you to be, you guessed it, PATIENT.
So we find ourselves at verse 7:
7 The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.
I couldn't help be literally laugh at this verse! How often do we "disown" someone we're close to (friends, family, co-workers) when they start acting up. And we always seem to have a mutual friend/family member around and we're like "go get your friend/cousin/etc." as if the relationship/bond isn't shared. Up to this point, these have been GOD'S chosen people who HE brought up out of bondage (with the help of Moses) to show HIS strength and love for them. Now all of a sudden, they belong to Moses because they went and built a golden calf. And we wanna think we're original - God did it first y'all! I'm just saying!!!
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.'"
14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.
But after God sees what the Israelites have done He, rightfully so, becomes angry and wants to destroy this people. Moses was bold enough to remind God of the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jocab (Israel). WOW! I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that- reminder GOD of something HE said??? Yea, OKAY - NOT! But Moses was bold and I am grateful for his example of boldness. Certainly God didn't forget the words He had spoken, but this gave Moses a chance to step out of faith on behalf of others (knowing they had done wrong). I can't say I'd be able to step to God like that for my own sake, but for someone else? who I know did wrong? Moses was a good one, because I would have been like "Okay God, whatever you say, this is your show!" May we be more like Moses, in this sense, and stick up for those (through prayer, through words, through deeds) who, even though we know are in the wrong, need God grace and mercy just like we do/any body else (cause we're all imperfect in some way)
19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain.
20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
I think it is ironic that Moses was so moved to anger by what he saw the people doing once he came down from the mountain. God had told him already they being disobedient, but sometimes, you have to see something for yourself to really be moved by the travesty of the situation. I know that what's going on in Chicago is CRAZY (black on black crime and our young people walking around killing each other) but I also know that I'd be more moved it was happening in my own back yard. If I had to look over my shoulder after leaving church on Sunday or Bible Study or walking back to my car from class - having something like that happen on YOUR front door step changes your prospective and will move you to anger in a way just hearing about it can't. BUT, I will say this, I can't see myself destroy something God personally wrote (something of great value) because of someone else and their foolishness. That's like me crashing my car because I saw someone else get into an accident. Or my shooting up my own home because the person next to me got their windows shot in - NO SIR! Not I! But again, that just shows us how upset Moses was - he had spent this time in the Holy presence of God, receiving personal instructions and commandments, they God provides him with everyone he needs written down BY GOD'S OWN HAND, and Moses just throws it to the ground cause the Israelites are acting ratchet! CRAZY!
What else is crazy, in my opinion anyway, is that Moses made the Israelites DRINK the ground ashes of the golden calf they'd made after he'd burned it. Like, Moses went HARD IN THE PAINT! Not only the fact that this even crossed his mind to do it, but HE ACTUALLY DID IT! Moses wasn't playing games and we weren't either. At the end of the day, the Israelites would NEVER forget that moment and I think that's why Moses did it. "Remember that time when we built that calf and it upset Moses so much he made us drink its burned ashes...maybe I better act right!" If we can't get people to act right for the sake of acting right and pleasing God, we have to be creative in finds ways to help them along ;-)
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.
Now, this is what really rubbed me the wrong way. Granted, these are grown people who should have a) none better and b) just been more patient HOWEVER, Aaron (and the elders too really) we left in charge of the people, Moses gave specific instructions for them to wait on him while he and Joshua went up the mountain. And here this fool, how is supposed to be Moses's right hand man, lefts peer pressure get the best of him BUILDS the golden calf for the people to worship! Say what?!!? Really, really sir? Aaron, out of anyone else, should have known better because he had been interacting with Moses the longest, but NOPE, he gives in. We 1) need to be careful of who we leave in charge, we need to make sure they are strong willed/but not stubborn and will follow instructions while we're done and 2) we ourselves, if we're the ones to be left in charge, need to NOT allow peer pressure from the crowd to win out over doing the write thing in God's eyes. Aaron should have stood up against the people and have wise words to share of told them to sing songs til Moses got back or something. Aaron, though, was the one to actually construct the golden calf, smh. Let us not be like Aaron, let us stand fast in what is right and find a way to sooth the masses while we wait. Are we willing to go against the will of the crowd and work to refocus the masses? Are willing to put our lives on the line for what is right?
But not to leave things there...we read this chapter and see how Aaron let the crowd get the best of him, but I thank GOD for his mercy and grace that in my "Aaron moments" God still loves me and will not remove my name from the record books. God understands that we aren't perfect, if we be seek forgiveness, repent of our sins, God will remain faithful. Let us be mindful of our Aaron moments as well as our chances to step in as a Moses for a wayward, chosen people - we all need pray and forgiveness!
love ya!
First off, in general, I just can't understand how a people who had witnessed and benefited from SO many blessing from God could fall so far from Him because they were impatient. But then I think about us as a people, specifically our generation, and I can see how it could happen. God was having a lengthy conversation with Moses, we have no idea how long Moses was on the mountain with God, but apparently too long for the Israelites! How often do we get impatient with God. We see Him work things out for us personally or for someone else we know/are close to and we're waiting for Him to show up in our lives/give some type of instruction ... and we are waiting, and waiting, and...finally we just get tired of waiting and proceed to do our own thing. We know God said He would provide, He's done it before, and there was a process (in their case it always involved Moses giving directions or conveying a message from God). So why can't we just hold on and wait on God? Why do we think "we got this" or "Imma just do me/my own thing" and feel like that's OK or good enough. We've got to learn patience, and TRUST I know it's not easy and the minute you genuinely pray for patience God will test you in that area and will require you to be, you guessed it, PATIENT.
So we find ourselves at verse 7:
7 The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.
I couldn't help be literally laugh at this verse! How often do we "disown" someone we're close to (friends, family, co-workers) when they start acting up. And we always seem to have a mutual friend/family member around and we're like "go get your friend/cousin/etc." as if the relationship/bond isn't shared. Up to this point, these have been GOD'S chosen people who HE brought up out of bondage (with the help of Moses) to show HIS strength and love for them. Now all of a sudden, they belong to Moses because they went and built a golden calf. And we wanna think we're original - God did it first y'all! I'm just saying!!!
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.'"
14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.
But after God sees what the Israelites have done He, rightfully so, becomes angry and wants to destroy this people. Moses was bold enough to remind God of the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jocab (Israel). WOW! I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that- reminder GOD of something HE said??? Yea, OKAY - NOT! But Moses was bold and I am grateful for his example of boldness. Certainly God didn't forget the words He had spoken, but this gave Moses a chance to step out of faith on behalf of others (knowing they had done wrong). I can't say I'd be able to step to God like that for my own sake, but for someone else? who I know did wrong? Moses was a good one, because I would have been like "Okay God, whatever you say, this is your show!" May we be more like Moses, in this sense, and stick up for those (through prayer, through words, through deeds) who, even though we know are in the wrong, need God grace and mercy just like we do/any body else (cause we're all imperfect in some way)
19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain.
20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
I think it is ironic that Moses was so moved to anger by what he saw the people doing once he came down from the mountain. God had told him already they being disobedient, but sometimes, you have to see something for yourself to really be moved by the travesty of the situation. I know that what's going on in Chicago is CRAZY (black on black crime and our young people walking around killing each other) but I also know that I'd be more moved it was happening in my own back yard. If I had to look over my shoulder after leaving church on Sunday or Bible Study or walking back to my car from class - having something like that happen on YOUR front door step changes your prospective and will move you to anger in a way just hearing about it can't. BUT, I will say this, I can't see myself destroy something God personally wrote (something of great value) because of someone else and their foolishness. That's like me crashing my car because I saw someone else get into an accident. Or my shooting up my own home because the person next to me got their windows shot in - NO SIR! Not I! But again, that just shows us how upset Moses was - he had spent this time in the Holy presence of God, receiving personal instructions and commandments, they God provides him with everyone he needs written down BY GOD'S OWN HAND, and Moses just throws it to the ground cause the Israelites are acting ratchet! CRAZY!
What else is crazy, in my opinion anyway, is that Moses made the Israelites DRINK the ground ashes of the golden calf they'd made after he'd burned it. Like, Moses went HARD IN THE PAINT! Not only the fact that this even crossed his mind to do it, but HE ACTUALLY DID IT! Moses wasn't playing games and we weren't either. At the end of the day, the Israelites would NEVER forget that moment and I think that's why Moses did it. "Remember that time when we built that calf and it upset Moses so much he made us drink its burned ashes...maybe I better act right!" If we can't get people to act right for the sake of acting right and pleasing God, we have to be creative in finds ways to help them along ;-)
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.
Now, this is what really rubbed me the wrong way. Granted, these are grown people who should have a) none better and b) just been more patient HOWEVER, Aaron (and the elders too really) we left in charge of the people, Moses gave specific instructions for them to wait on him while he and Joshua went up the mountain. And here this fool, how is supposed to be Moses's right hand man, lefts peer pressure get the best of him BUILDS the golden calf for the people to worship! Say what?!!? Really, really sir? Aaron, out of anyone else, should have known better because he had been interacting with Moses the longest, but NOPE, he gives in. We 1) need to be careful of who we leave in charge, we need to make sure they are strong willed/but not stubborn and will follow instructions while we're done and 2) we ourselves, if we're the ones to be left in charge, need to NOT allow peer pressure from the crowd to win out over doing the write thing in God's eyes. Aaron should have stood up against the people and have wise words to share of told them to sing songs til Moses got back or something. Aaron, though, was the one to actually construct the golden calf, smh. Let us not be like Aaron, let us stand fast in what is right and find a way to sooth the masses while we wait. Are we willing to go against the will of the crowd and work to refocus the masses? Are willing to put our lives on the line for what is right?
But not to leave things there...we read this chapter and see how Aaron let the crowd get the best of him, but I thank GOD for his mercy and grace that in my "Aaron moments" God still loves me and will not remove my name from the record books. God understands that we aren't perfect, if we be seek forgiveness, repent of our sins, God will remain faithful. Let us be mindful of our Aaron moments as well as our chances to step in as a Moses for a wayward, chosen people - we all need pray and forgiveness!
love ya!