Exodus 32
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
(When I read this, I always think about how crazy the Israelites were. God brought them from Egypt and parted a friggin' sea for them. Wouldn't that make them believe and stay faithful? You'd think...)
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
When I really get to calling the Israelites stupid, God kinda pokes me and tells me that I'm really not that different.
What?
I don't have a stinking gold cow in my house. I don't make gods out of random things...do I?
Sigh.
I guess my idols take different forms.
I fill my time up with so many things, and when I get home I'm so "exhausted" that I don't spend time with God. Or I choose to hit the snooze button instead of meet with Him in the morning.
All of these things that I have put before him (relationships, school, work, etc.) are just as dumb as making a gold cow.
God's son died for us.
He loves us.
He is the Creator of the universe.
He wants to have a relationship with us.
How dumb is it for me to waste my time with silly, meaningless things?
Do you have any golden cows?
