God
gave Moses the two tablets of the Ten Commandments written with His own finger.
Moses must have felt ready to go back to his people with God’s instruction to
begin doing what God had bid him do. But back at the camp where the people
were, things were not good. They had gone rowdy and demanded that Aaron made
them another god. Foolishly, Aaron obediently followed their instruction and
made a molten calf from the gold of the women and their children. The
all-seeing God saw all that was happening with His people. And He broke the
news to Moses and revealed how very hurt He was. Just a few weeks only and they
had reneged and wanted to return to the gods of Egypt. While they had left
Egypt, the mentality of Egypt had not left them. They were so depraved and
corrupt and had become offensive to God. They had turned away from God and
engaged in what they were told not to do and blatantly broke the first two
commandments of God.
We
may think that having experienced God’s manifold grace, it was unlikely for
them to become corrupt so fast. Unfortunately, they did. This is a lesson
for us not to take the grace of God for granted. Like them, we are also
susceptible to turn away when we fail to trust Him explicitly. When we fail to
trust God’s timing and purpose for our life, we too can become distracted.
There is always the temptation to come up with our own device concerning how
and when we want to serve God. We want to serve God on our own terms and in our
own ways.
God
was prepared to destroy them and with Moses build a new community of people.
This tells us how hurt God truly was. Notice how God described these people.
They were obstinate meaning they were full of themselves. People who are
obstinate are unbendable. It’s hard for such people to be humble and obey the
instruction given. Let us not be said that we are a stiff-necked people. We
must not be afraid to admit our wrong, repent and change. Let’s be pliable in
the hand of God for He will give grace to the humble and resist the proud. For
what they did, the people deserved to be punished. The fact that God should
even discuss with Moses what He wanted to do tells us we have a gracious God.
Why did He need to discuss with Moses? Being God, he could have done anything
He wanted but He didn’t. He discussed with Moses. That’s a hint to us of His
grace.
One
lesson stands out clearly for us. None of us should ever become a stiff-necked
person. The whole incidence here tells us that they didn’t even know the
condition of their own hearts. They had experienced grace so many times in
their journey, yet they never seemed to learn. They remained unchanged and had
not grown in the Lord. Because of their obstinacy, they had never truly
submitted to God. Take this lesson seriously and not allow any stubbornness
in us to retard our spiritual growth. People do become obstinate to a point
where they become impenetrable to God’s grace. For our own sake, we must never
become such a person!
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