What’s Your Golden Calf?

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.”  Exodus 20:2-3When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Exodus 32:1

 He [Aaron] took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; Exodus 32:4

   While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Israelites became very impatient and failed to trust God. Forty days would seem like a long time, as they were anticipating Moses’ return.  

    Although it is difficult to have patience, we wouldn’t need to grow our trust in God if He gave us everything before we needed it.

    In Exodus 32:1 [Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt], it sounds like they have already forgotten that GOD is the one who brought them out of Egypt. The more discouraged they became in the wilderness, the more they gave credit or blame to Moses, and the less they thought about God.

    We all have a desire to worship. Even though the Israelites knew and agreed to the law to ‘have no other gods’, they were impatient and convinced that Moses probably wasn’t coming back. Therefore, they built a golden calf to worship. Can you imagine how God and Moses felt? Moses is away, getting instruction from God on how to make a better life for all their people. Then he gets word that they have totally blown it! God and Moses were both angry and disappointed.

    I imagine God is also very disappointed in me when I ‘totally blow it’, when I’m basking in the delicious taste of my own ‘golden calf’ (food that I love, that tastes so good, that is so comforting—but only for a moment.)

    In today’s, materialistic society, full of the latest and greatest items like computers, cell phones that do everything, vehicles that have every option imaginable, smart TV’s, and video games, it is very difficult to not have ‘Golden Calves’ in our own lives. Material things may be the most obvious ‘Golden Calf’ but it can also be non-material things like a job, a hobby, sports, or family. I also believe our ‘Golden Calf’ can be a personality trait like negativity, lust, or greed. In other words, a ‘Golden Calf’ could be anything in your life that is lifted above God or comes between you and God.

In what ways or areas of your life do you need to have more patience and trust in God?

What is YOUR ‘golden calf’?
 
~Joanie Lawrence-Cain