Parenting - Golden Calves and Other Objects of Our Affection

This week my attention was drawn to the account in Exodus 32 of the children of Israel growing impatient with the absence of their leader Moses. He had gone to Mount Sinai to hear from God and was taking way too long, as far as the people were concerned. They gave up waiting on, "That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt..." (Exodus 32:1, The Message). In reality, they gave up waiting on God - the same God they had sworn to obey (Exodus 19:2-8). Instead of drawing from their most recent memory of God's delivering them miraculously from Egyptian bondage, they grew impatient and demanded that Aaron, the God-ordained priest, make them "...gods who will lead us" (Exodus 32:1, The Message). Aaron gave into their demands and crafted a golden calf from their gold earrings and built an altar before it. He led the people in sacrificing offerings on that altar, and then they began to party! The party didn't last long; God was not amused! He commanded Moses to get down the mountain and back to the people. Moses had to intercede for them because God threatened to incinerate them! Moses destroyed the golden calf and carried out punishment on the people leading the revelry, and God sent a plague on all of them!

Far too often we too grow impatient, waiting for God to send an answer or give us what we believe we need. We want the "gods we can see" to lead us. The "god" may be the job we believe will bring us fulfillment or recognition. We may want so badly to be married that we settle for someone we know isn't Mr. or Ms. Right. Other times, we just put pencil to paper and figure out a way to have what we want - a car, a house, a vacation - even though something is tugging at us, telling us the timing isn't right. Whatever it is, we forget the God who has promised to be our provider and supply all our need according to his riches (Philippians 4:19). We get ahead of his plan and purposes for our lives and become his "helper." Usually, we "help" ourselves right into a big mess. We offer our worship to and place our faith in what we can see and manufacture.

God knows this about us. He knows we are prone to "playing god" and rushing headlong into trouble. He knows that sometimes getting what we want when we want it isn't in our best interest. Yet, God allows us to take matters into our own hands when we persist. I believe he knows that we eventually will learn that waiting on him to lead us and to provide for us is the wisest course of action! I believe he knows that the "plagues" that generally follow our own "golden calf" experiences end up being pretty good lessons for us.

Learning to be patient doesn't mean we sit around doing nothing. Waiting on God requires action (I Timothy 6:11). While we wait, we pray for God's strength to wait patiently. We read his word for guidance and are actively obedient to his word. We seek his direction. We listen for his voice. We worship him and believe that he is working all things for our good (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Like the children of Israel and Aaron, we can grow tired of waiting on God to lead us and rely on golden calves of our own making. We can worship at their altars, and we can be disappointed. Or, we can believe in what we cannot see and stand firm in God's promises and experience the rewards of our faithfulness (Hebrews 11:6).

Lord, thank you for your faithfulness and your patience with us. Teach us to hear your voice as you lead us. Give us the desire to wait on you with courage! In your name we ask. Amen!