The Impatience of Man

The Impatience of Man
Words of Faith 3-7-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
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Exodus 32
[1] When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, 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." [2] Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." [3] So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. [4] He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." [5] When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." [6] So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

We, humans, tend to be impatient. The Lord's direction concerning the Tabernacle and its detailed construction and operation had taken a long time. Moses had been on the mountain for 40 days (Exodus 24:18). While he was gone, Aaron was appointed as their temporary leader (Exodus 24:14).
The whole scene is baffling. 40 days is a long time, but after all, these are the people who had been miraculously and powerfully led out of slavery in Egypt. They had been given water and food in the desert. When Moses had ascended the mountain of God with Joshua, the glory of the Lord settled upon the mountain. This glory looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain (24:15-18). They had many reasons to trust in the Lord.
Perhaps these visual manifestations had faded or seemed less impressive. Whatever the case, the people had grown impatient and came to Aaron with a new suggestion. "Let's make God's for ourselves."
Rather than pointing out the folly of this suggestion, Aaron simply devised a plan for them. We can understand why God chose Moses as his leader. While Aaron was the better communicator with words, he did not have the wisdom, integrity, or fire within him to quash this stupid idea.
So, suddenly the people who owe the very most to the Lord are getting their gold earrings together to melt and cast into the shape of a calf. A calf. Seriously? Some commentators suggest that this represented the Egyptian bull-god Apis. The bull represented fertility and sexual strength. But we really don't know why this was chosen.
They may have considered the idol to be a visual image of the God who had led them out of bondage. "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." They certainly knew it was not a calf that brought them out of Egypt.
The most obvious issue was that this violated the second commandment, which the people had already received from God verbally through Moses.
Aaron really got into this excitement. He built an altar in front of the calf and declared a festival to the LORD. They made burnt offerings, and the celebration descended into indulgence and revelry.
It is easy to condemn this scene, yet it may not be far from our own experience. We tend to be an impatient people. We prefer to hear from the Lord quickly. We like the immediacy of physical representations and even religious celebrations. While we cannot imagine melting down jewelry to create a calf idol, we can identify a host of idols that we sometimes substitute for the Lord.
When we grow impatient with God, we sometimes run ahead and take things into our own hands. We may substitute the idols of money, power, position, promotion, or sexual imagery instead of the one true living God. These things are immediate, visual, and feel empowering.
We may want something that will make us feel more alive. The long list includes thrills, speed, and risky situations. When we substitute these things for God or put them alongside God, we fall into the same trap as the Hebrews in the desert.

Heavenly Father, search my heart. I confess my own impatience in life and my desire to feel things rather than to trust You. Reveal in me anything distant from You. Reveal in me any idolatrous desire. Reveal in me anything I have put alongside You as an image to worship. Draw me into confession and repentance. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.