Distance Devotions – April 11, 2020
Exodus 32:22-24 – There Came Out This Calf
Exodus 32:21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us…24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
The history of the nation of Israel is utterly amazing. These who had seen the judgments on the nation of Egypt, who watched as the Red Sea parted, who passed over on dry ground and the Egyptians were drown, who had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night, and who would be fed the bread of angel’s, manna they called it, were very fickle and had weak faith. Through the years I have had people say to me, “If God would just show me something visible or tangible,” when what they are really saying is, “Until God jumps through my hoop I will not believe.” It is astounding to see the unbelief of the Jews until you begin to examine your own life. How many times has God been gracious to you and your rewarded Him with faithlessness? Have we become so used to the blessings of God that we no longer celebrate them, but see them as what we are owed? When you read the book of Judges and see the spiritual cycle of the nation of Israel it is almost unbelievable were it not for our own weakness in faith. I never cease to be amazed at those who want the Lord to save their soul, but leave their pocketbook alone. We sometimes call on God for lengthy periods of time asking Him to save our son, daughter, or some other family member, but refuse to honestly ask God to use them as a missionary to some foreign country and different culture because our grandchildren will be separated from us. Let’s not be too hard on these Israelites as we recognize that we also struggle with being faithful and trusting.
Aaron’s excuse for his deviation from the true worship of God stuns me. In less than forty days, he has caved into the demands of the people to take over as Moses is gone, but not just take over, however, but to give them a visible god to worship. Of course, Aaron should have stood steadfast and refused their demands. He didn’t. The next thing we see is the people naked “And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)” (Exodus 32:25) and dancing as they worshiping demons. How did they get here? What reason could be given? Aaron’s answers were weak and pathetic:
1] Don’t blame me, the people are set on mischief
2] I put the gold in, but there came out this calf
You almost want to laugh at Aaron’s defense of his apostasy. “It is the people’s fault. And, Moses, the gold went in and the calf came out.” Nobody believed that. Moses surely did not and I doubt Aaron did either. It was just his lame excuse for his personal failure and sin.
The application here is this: what kind of excuse do we use for our sin? Being honest and confessing it is the right thing to do, but the natural man will always try to defend himself from any blame. Do we not hear the echoes of Aaron’s this calf came out as we say the sin was more than I could resist? The Lord will not allow us to be tempted without some means of escape. (1 Corinthians 10:13) Total honesty requires us to admit we have no excuse for our sin. Biblical forgiveness is based on our repentance from sin. God deliver us from using flimsy excuses to avoid guilt. Growth in grace is learned and expanded as we face and confront our sins and weaknesses.
Pastor F. J. Weems III