An unfounded excuse

READ: Exodus 31, 32; Psalm 41; Matthew 21:1-22

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus 32: 22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘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.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

OBSERVATION: When the Holy God was giving his ordinances for the Israelites through Moses, the Israelites grew impatient and they demanded  Aaron to make gods for them to lead on. Aaron yielded to the pressure and led the people into idolatry by collecting jewelry from the people and made a calf as their god. On the other hand, although Moses pleaded for God's mercy  to cool off  the wrath of God against the Israelites, when he came down, he openly confronted Aaron. In Aaron's response, we see a suppression of the fact of what exactly he did, and he made a wrong statement as if an idol came out of the fire automatically. Instead of accepting his mistakes and his failure to keep up his responsibility, He was blaming the Israelites with his lame excuses. He might have feared about the people, and worried about the consequences of not accepting the demands of people. Eventually, it led the people to sin against God and they started to do abominable things that are not pleasing to God. If it were not for the Moses and the Levites who stood firm, the exodus story would have a different end. 

APPLICATION: At times, I may get pressures and demands to do something against God. It may come from within the family, or work place, or friends and relatives. Every person who lives in the world has these  possible  dangers of acting against his/her conscience. However, how I respond to such situation will make a huge different between me and others.  If I ever yielded to the pressures of others and sinned against God, instead of justifying my failure, I will ask God to forgive me. As a Christian, I should not give space to anything that could lead me to sin. I will fearlessly take a stand for God, and will pray for the people who go away from God as well.

PRAYER: Father God, whenever I face pressures of this world, help me to be strong and bold. Protect me from yielding to the ungodly demands of the people. As Luther once said, "Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me." Amen. 

- Arputharaj Samuel
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