Tired of Waiting
Opening Prayer
Are there issues in your life that you are impatient for God to resolve? Share your concerns and feelings with him.
Read Exodus 32:1-14
[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, 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. [7] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. [8] They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ [9] “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. [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.” [11] But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? [12] Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. [13] Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'” [14] Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How do the Hebrews go astray while Moses is away?Forty days can be a long time. Certainly long enough for people to get fed up with waiting and to start wanting to take matters into their own hands (1; cf. 24:18). It is the old problem: God intervened in miraculous ways in the past in the lives of his people, who were grateful and promised to obey him in the future. But time passes and that niggling thought “Did God really say…?” gets louder and louder in their minds. In addition to disobeying God’s specific command “Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold” (20:23), the people have rewritten their own recent history (1b,4b,11b). Instead of clinging to what they already know of God, they allow themselves to be thrown off course. Judged by the promises they themselves made, they deserve to be destroyed. In contrast, Moses’ brave plea to the Lord is based on truth. He shows that he remembers correctly what happened in the past. Even more importantly, he shows a true understanding of God’s character.
Apply
Is there something you believe the Lord has promised you but you’re fed up with waiting for it?
Closing prayer
Lord, help me to wait patiently–without taking matters into my own hands–as You fulfill Your promises.
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