Silly Excuses, Crazy Lies
Opening Prayer
Father, may Your Word be a double-edged sword—to pierce into my soul and to judge the thoughts of my heart (Heb. 4:12).
Read Exodus 32:15–24
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
18 Moses replied:
“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
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!”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Can you remember being a child who was caught doing something wrong and immediately trying to make excuses?In this passage we see Moses, accompanied by Joshua, approaching the people’s illicit party. Moses was carrying God’s Law as he approached the people he had just been pleading for before God. As he saw all that was going on, his anger burned, the tablets of the Law were destroyed, and then the golden calf too.
Proverbs 29:18 tells us that when there is no word from God the people will cast off all restraint. The people of Israel disgraced themselves that day. Is God’s word being proclaimed into your life to protect you from doing similarly destructive things?
As Moses, the representative of God’s word, confronted Aaron, the response was disappointing. Aaron grasped for a sufficient excuse (22–24). First, the people are prone to evil. Second, it was their idea. Third, we don’t know where Moses is. Fourth, it just happened!
When God’s word confronts sin in your life do not try to protect yourself. Instead, cast yourself on God’s mercy. The whole Bible makes it clear that the only way out of our own sin is to trust in God’s provision.
Apply
Are there sins in your life that God is confronting? Are there excuses on your lips that are getting in the way of God’s solution?
Closing prayer
Take time to repent before God. Take responsibility for your choices and choose to accept God’s loving correction today.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.