How Many Golden Calves do You have in Your Life?
By Machelle McDowell
March 7, 2024
(Bible Text: Exodus 32)
Psalm 115: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”
How do I become like a golden calf? Can a golden calf hear? Can it speak? Can it move? Can it feel?
Each time we put something in the place of God we step further and further from Him which means we become powerless because we are away from the power source.
It is not long before we cannot hear God speak to us. We cannot feel His presence. We cannot sense Him moving in our lives. We become powerless.
Throughout God’s Word we are warned against idolatry. God hates it when we become enslaved to gods which are actually not gods at all. They are manmade things that take the place of God.
When we find ourselves spending more of our time, energy, finances, and even our devotion on something that takes us away from the presence of God long term, we have a problem.
Idols are powerless and make us powerless when we put our trust into something that is made by the human hands.
Friends, we can make even our family and idol- our spouses, our children, our grandchildren. Something that is such a blessing must be handled with a sense of priority.
God first should be our mindset, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” but we live our lives based on what we perceive important at the time.
When we choose to put God first- His Word is more valuable than any other message. His will supersedes all else on our agenda. Putting God first means that we strive to keep our lives free from idolatry.
An idol is anything that replaces God in our hearts. When we think about idols our minds go to the Old Testament and that worshipping idols is something you see happening a long time ago.
We have created modern day idols but struggle to recognize them in our lives. Some examples we should be cautious about becoming idols in our lives: cell phones, social media, television, sports, money, beauty, food, etc. The list is lengthy.
The Israelites made a costly mistake. They did not fully trust their leader, Moses and they certainly didn’t fully trust God.
While Moses was having a mountaintop experience with God on Mt. Sinai and given the Ten Commandments to share with the Israelites they were busy doubting Moses and taking matters into their own hands.
The people wanted gods to go before them to the Promised Land. Where was Moses? Where was God? It had been 40 days and no word. They knew that God led them thus far but were willing to trust a god they could make to finish the job.
This makes you wonder, did they (really) know God at all? To think, they could create a god that could not see, hear, talk, move, breath, taste, feel, but just exist is frightening to me!
What did they truly believe about the one true God? The all powerful, all consuming, all knowing, all Holy, creator and king of kings, Lord of Lords, so many titles and names and adjectives to describe Him…that the Israelites would diminish him to be a golden calf!
We do the same thing. We diminish God and elevate things in our life that have captured our devotion.
I have yet to understand why Aaron thought this was a good idea. I am assuming out of impulse Aaron felt he had to do something to appease the people.
To make matters worse not only did Aaron come up with the idea; he created it! Maybe, he enjoyed the attention it was bringing him from the people?
God knew exactly what they were doing. He was furious. Enough so, that he wanted to wipe them out! His wrath was ignited! God becomes furious with us as well when we choose our manmade idols over Him.
Moses intercedes on their behalf. Moses reminds God that the Israelites were His people and begged Him to deal with them by His grace. God was moved to forgiveness, ( a lesson on how important prayer is!).
Moses comes down and confronts Aaron. His anger consumed him and he broke the tablets. Israel broke the covenant by their idolatry and immorality. Moses burned the calf and made the people drink it.
What did it cost them? God’s presence or at least being able to sense his presence. God did not abandon them but sent His angel to guide the people but his presence was not felt. There were 3000 people that lost their lives that day due to their role in the golden calf debacle. God takes idolatry seriously.
Each time we put something in the place of God we step further and further from Him which means we become powerless because we are away from the power source.
First Commandment- There is only one God.
Second Commandment- Do not bow down to idols.
These two commandments are at the top of the list of ten. This should shout to us loudly God’s heart. He wants to be all we need or desire.
Idols Always Break the Hearts of their Worshipers- C.S. Lewis