The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 32:10,
"Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
Here God tells Moses to back away because he is going to lay waste the Israelites and replace them with Moses' own offspring. How shallow the commitment and faithfulness of Israel! Israel is but a sample of all mankind and so it must be recognized that all mankind is corrupt and unable to remain true to God. Israel is here showing just how weak and unreliable sinful mankind is. Israel just entered into a covenant with God, and Moses' absence for forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai was all that was needed for this pitiful display of a lack of faithfulness. In Moses absence, the Israelites convinced Aaron, Moses' brother, to create a golden idol of a calf to worship.
In an amazing exchange between God and Moses, one that many people's theology today will simply not allow for, Moses reasons with God and God relents!
God can be approached! God can be reasoned with! God can be persuaded! God responds in real time and space! We are told in verse 14, "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened." And, this at Moses' reasoning with God! Here I find one of the greatest of reasons to be faithful in prayer, to bring our cares and concerns before the Lord to seek his help, to seek what we need, to seek what we desire.
"Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
Here God tells Moses to back away because he is going to lay waste the Israelites and replace them with Moses' own offspring. How shallow the commitment and faithfulness of Israel! Israel is but a sample of all mankind and so it must be recognized that all mankind is corrupt and unable to remain true to God. Israel is here showing just how weak and unreliable sinful mankind is. Israel just entered into a covenant with God, and Moses' absence for forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai was all that was needed for this pitiful display of a lack of faithfulness. In Moses absence, the Israelites convinced Aaron, Moses' brother, to create a golden idol of a calf to worship.
In an amazing exchange between God and Moses, one that many people's theology today will simply not allow for, Moses reasons with God and God relents!
God can be approached! God can be reasoned with! God can be persuaded! God responds in real time and space! We are told in verse 14, "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened." And, this at Moses' reasoning with God! Here I find one of the greatest of reasons to be faithful in prayer, to bring our cares and concerns before the Lord to seek his help, to seek what we need, to seek what we desire.
What I don't see in this event is that God has everything already pre-scripted and then orchestrates things according to a fixed set of circumstances he has determined ahead of time. The account simply will not support that line of thinking. What I do see is that God interacted with Moses, listened to what he had to say, and our all-powerful and all-knowing God responded to what Moses said. I think this is one of the many possible reasons the account is provided us in this way.
In the Qur'an, Mohammed used this account in his anti-Semitic rants against Israel. And, certainly, if the Bible is a contrived set of writings produced for the purpose of elites to control the "little people", as many atheists "believe", this is one account that would certainly not have been included.
There is much to learn and consider about God and our interaction with him in this passage!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment