Only Able to Do what they Know

Scripture: When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what’s happened to him?” Exodus 32:1

Observation: As Moses has spent several weeks on the mountain receiving God's covenant and instructions, Israel builds a golden calf and worships it as a god. These are people who have seen first-hand the mighty hand of Yahweh; They witnessed the plagues against Egypt, participated in the crossing of the parted sea, and even heard God's commands as he called Moses up the mountain. They know of Yahweh, even believe in him and celebrate him, but they have no idea what to do and how to behave when it comes to ... being with him.

Israel knows from their lives in Egypt that celebrating and being near your 'god' means to direct worship toward some golden statue, and that's what they do here. They know nothing else. They don't know how to pray, or how to be in relationship with the loving spirit of God, or to listen to that spirit in relationship, or feel hope and mercy and pass that along to others as an expression of faith. They just don't have these examples and lessons. Even as they know that the Lord acted with great might while being unseen, they cannot translate that into their daily behavior.

It is this understanding that make a relationship with the Lord so different from the rest of life. The rest of life involves material things and physical experiences. A relationship with the Lord involves communing with the Holy Spirit, trusting in historical truth, and listening for the voice of the Lord to guide and comfort and help and encourage.

Application: Lord, this is a lesson I forget often. I often look for you to act in this world ... for my relationship with you to manifest as something that this existence would define as "real". This error sets me up for idol worship ... for the idea that I will look to something physical to represent you, instead of simply looking to you and engaging in a relationship with you through the Holy Spirit.

Like Israel, I try to put you in the context of what I know of this world. That's backwards, and I know it. I should be putting this world into the context of you, its creator. My I remember that proper order and context more often, every day.

Prayer: Lord, you are my Lord and my God and my savior and my creator. You are also my daddy. May I order the rest of my life in a manner that makes you first and central, with everything else subordinate to you, and may that ordering then define my behavior. Amen.