One of the things that is most shocking about some of the passages in the Old Testament is this.  Really, Israelites?  You thought that was a good idea?  Really?  I mean, really?

Take for instance the Old Testament passage from today’s morning reading, Genesis 32: 1-6

1 When 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.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

Really?  You thought that this was a good idea?  I mean, where do we start with this?

First, when Moses delayed coming, they said, well, who knows where this Moses fellow went off to?

All they had to do was look up at the mountain. WHICH WAS GLOWING.  I REPEAT, WHICH WAS GLOWING.

But they didn’t.  They just said, well, he’s gone and not coming back.

And Arron, said, ok, I’ll make you a calf, sure. And then he said, he’s the god that lead you out of Egypt!

I mean, think about all they had seen with their own eyes. All they had seen God do. All they had seen God change. Save. Deliver. All they had experienced.

And in one moment, they said, nope, Moses is gone and we want golden calf!

How could they do that?

One small problem.

We do the same thing.

Maybe we haven’t seen God bring plagues against the Egyptians or part the Red Sea.  But, we’ve seen Him move. We’ve seen Him do awesome things.  We’ve seen Him change lives, including our own.  We’ve felt Him in our hearts, known Him with our souls.

So, maybe we haven’t seen what they saw. But we’ve seen a lot.

And, while we may not have melted down our jewelry and built a golden calf, we’ve done the same thing.

We’ve all put our hope in something other than God.  Our job.  Our family.  Our status.  Our wealth.  Our reputation.  Our whatever. . . .

In this text, they said the calf had led them, not God.

In our lives, we can say, these other things, they lead us, save us, take care of us.

We do not need to make that same mistake they did.

We need to trust.  Our life, our hope, our safety, our future, they all come from God.  No where else.  From God.

They didn’t always trust God.  How could they do that?

We don’t always trust God.  May we learn from their mistakes.

And today, and always, may we trust God, knowing that He is our life, our hope, our safety.  And, above all, thanks be to God, that in spite of their mistakes, He still loved them, and didn’t give up on them.

In spite of our mistakes, He still loves us. And will not give up on us.

Thanks be to God!