On certain days, the Lord will place a particular Bible story in my mind to read, and as I read and study the text, the Lord will show me why He brought it up. That is exactly what happened with the story of the golden calf. In Exodus 32, the Israelites asked Aaron to make them a god because Moses was taking too long on the mountain. As I read Exodus 32, the first question I had was “where did they get the gold?” The Lord then led me to previous chapters where He had given the Israelites favor to get gold from the Egyptians so they don’t leave empty handed.
“for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they plundered the Egyptians.” Exodus 12:35-36
What stood out to me was the very thing (the gold) that God caused them to receive through favor, was the very thing they used to create an idol to replace Him. Phew! Their blessing took the place of the One who blessed them. Mercy! Another thing I noticed was that they said, “make us a god who will go before us”. When I saw this phrase, the first thing my brain said was “I say that about God, that He should go before me, be behind me, and be all around me, yet, these Israelites want this from another god. Why?” This led me to Exodus 13:21
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.”
They had seen God go before them in the past, yet, they were looking for a god to do for them what only God could do. They wanted their counterfeit god to emulate what they had seen God do in the past. (Spolier alert: it couldn’t)
The last thing I noticed as I read Exodus 32 was how the Israelites gave the golden calf credit/praise for bringing them out of Egypt. They literally said in verse 4 “this is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”. They offered God’s praise, thanksgiving and worship to another. They offered worship to the counterfeit. (As I read this, my instant reaction was, “I know they didn’t”)
Why am I pointing all these things out? It is easy to read all of this and have our mouths open like “adonbilivit” “how could they do that” but I want you to take a minute and examine your life. Have there been moments were you have given God’s credit to something other than Him? Have there been times where you have forgotten what God literally did for you days ago because something did not go your way or you hit a rough patch? Have there been times were you’ve been impatient with God or did not trust Him enough because, life? Yep, I have been there. I believe God sent me to this story so that I (we) can be introspective.
Lessons that I learned from this passage
Lesson One: Do not let the blessings God gives you take you away from Him or replace Him in your heart. If the blessings begin to take you away from fellowship with God and become all you think about, repent and go back to Your Father.
Lesson Two: Don’t give God’s credit to another, not even yourself. This is a prime reason why accrediting success or blessings to the Universe is such an error. This angers God. God was ready to cut off the Israelites when He heard them praising the golden calf for something He did.
Lesson Three: Don’t easily forget what God has done for you in the past. The Israelites hit a rough patch and forgot how God had delivered them from Egypt, how He had walked with them through the journey and also fed them. Remember that the God who did it before, will do it again.
If we find ourselves acting like the Israelites, the lessons from today are so that we find our way back to fixing our eyes on God. He will not forsake us. He will not bring us this far to leave us. He will not rescue us or call us to a new place without provision.
Do not settle for counterfeit gods/idols. They will never satisfy our souls. They will always fail us. They have no power, God does.