Today´s reading:
OT: Exodus 32-33
NT: Matthew 26:69-75, Matthew 27:1-14
Ps: Psalm 33:1-11
Pr: Proverbs 8:33-36
Today´s notable verses:
The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 32:16 (NIV)
What a unique and miraculous blessing to the Israelites: the very Word of God, inscribed by God Himself! Thw points come to mind: first, that the Israelites squandered such a precious gift by inciting the anger of Moses and provoking him to throw down the tablets in his rage. Second, that even this precious gift was but a pale reflection of God’s later work:
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
II Corinthians 2:3 (NIV)
God has made each one of us more precious than those stone tablets, since He Himself ascended and shattered Himself on the Cross for our sake, and has engraved His Spirit on our hearts, and in so doing has given us His perfect Law and made it so integral to our lives that our very lives are now identified in it, and in it alone.
The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Exodus 33:11 (NIV)
I once heard a teaching concerning Joshua in this verse, that his later accomplishments originated, in part, in this verse. He was with Moses in the tent of meeting, and he stayed. He sought the same intimacy with the Lord that Moses had. He stayed in the place of meeting with the Lord. He longed for the presence and glory of the Lord.
The One Year Bible Blog asks:
Comments from you & Question of the Day – The Golden Calf readings… Are we so different from the Israelites? Do we make our own versions of “golden calves” today? Do we have idols that we worship? Money? Career? Popularity? Relationships? Addictions? Our Intelligence? Technology? Do these idols stand in the way of our worship of God? Do they stand in the way of our relationship with God? Do these idols defile us?
What amazes me about this incident is that the Israelites turned to Aaron for guidance, and he failed them miserably; yet God still ordained Aaron to be His High Priest – another example of God, in His grace, using people for His purposes despite (and through) their failures.
I think the real sin here was the Israelites’ lack of faith, and their willingness to put their trust in something so obviously man-made, while the Presence of the Lord yet remained on the mountain with Moses. Perhaps their actions resulted from taking their eyes off of the mountain, looking to the desert and wilderness, rather than staying focused on God’s Presence?
And we are still the same today. Our faith still falters. We still put our trust in all those things mentioned, especially when we take our eyes off of our Lord. And just as Peter, walking on water, began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus, so too do we begin to become overwhelmed by the world when we take our eyes off of Him.