When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods 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” (32:1).
This is a tragic episode. Moses had gone up to meet with God and hadn’t returned. It’s probable that there was still fire and smoke on the mountain, and the people may have thought that Moses had died up there. They were anxious about what they were going to do without their leader. Wouldn’t you have been anxious at that point?
It’s one thing to be anxious, not knowing what had happened to their leader, but what should have been the next step? It would have been reasonable to go to Aaron and ask him what to do. After all, he too was a leader. But, instead, the people went to Aaron and demanded he make them “gods who shall go before us” (32:2). They were reverting to what was common in Egypt and all the nations of that day – idols.
But God had specifically commanded that they weren’t to have any idols! And did Aaron not know better than to give in to their demands? Where was his leadership? He knew God, didn’t he?
When we are anxious do we go back to old and sinful ways? Or maybe just make up some way of dealing with our situation? Or do we go to God and ask Him what we should do?
God’s timetable is not necessarily my timetable. I want to see God move sooner than later – preferably immediately. I (and many others) have been praying for six months for the release of the Israeli hostages that Hamas kidnapped on October 7th. Around fifty were released several months ago in exchange for hundreds of convicted Hamas criminals, but there are still around one hundred and thirty hostages in captivity. Shall I give up on God? Obviously not. I must remind myself that He has a big picture that He is accomplishing, and that He is good and trustworthy. And that He tells His people to keep praying and not give up. Still, He doesn’t mind if I ask Him, “What’s going on?” But what I shouldn’t do is give up on Him.
I hope you have already read this chapter before reading my comments, but if you haven’t, please go and do so. To read about God’s anger against His people and Moses’ intercession on behalf of the people is amazing. God told Moses He would wipe out the Israelites and make a great nation out of Moses. But Moses cared more about God’s reputation than his own dynasty and pleaded with Him, and God relented.
The people who sinned by worshipping idols died by a plague that God sent. It is no light thing to turn one’s back on God.
Prayer: God, may You help me always to go to You and not away from You when I am upset, anxious, or just not feeling good about a situation I am in. You have the answers. Amen.
