"If we aren't worshipping God 100%, what other idols are we worshipping?"

God bless~

-Love, GinniePark

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Memory Verse of the Week:

"They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God." - Exodus 29:46

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Covenant Mediator - Exodus 32:11-20

On Behalf of Israel

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."

 

Turning from Sin

15: "Moses turned and went down the mountains 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 Godl 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 into powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it."

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Reflection

On Behalf of Israel (32:11-14)

Moses is the mediator of the first covenant between Yahweh and Israel. He stands in between the Holy God and a sinful people, and through Moses, God gives them the Law of the covenant that binds Yahweh to Israel. Even as the covenant is being made, however, Israel is already going astray. This will unfortunately be the pattern of unfaithfulness that God's people will fall prey to time and again. Nonetheless, Yahweh loves His people. He has in mind to save them from sin. But now, His people have sinned and God's anger burns against them. Moses, knowing God's heart, intervenes on behalf of Israel, and God relents! What a selfless leader! God gives Moses the option of being the one through whom God will re-start the nation of Israel, but for God's glory, Moses asks Him to stick with Israel. This is the kind of leadership God's people need.

 

Turning from Sin (32:15-20)

Moses knows that there are consequences to sin. He knows that while God has relented, Israel must understand the gravity of their sin. Their flagrant disobedience must be dealt with. As Moses descends to the sight of idol worship, his anger burns at their sin. It is righteous anger. The people have already broken God's Law. Moses breaks the tablets and makes the people literally consume their idols. There are consequences to breaking God's Law. There is a gravity to sin that would eventually cost God His Son. Israel, God's chosen people, ought to know better. They must know better in order to be an example to the rest of the nations from whom they have been set apart. In the same way, the Church must know what pleases God and must be an example to the rest of the world. We ought to recognize sin and turn from it.

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Application

-Our pastors and church leaders preach and teach God's Word. They also shepherd and carry the burden of spiritual leadership. Let's remember to pray for them, that God will guard their hearts and minds.

-When we recognize sin in our own lives, we must have the courage to deal with it and not let it fester. When dealing with others, we ought to be sensitive to the person but never tolerant of sin.

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"It is perilously easy to have amazing sympathy with God's truth and remain to sin."

-Oswald Chambers

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Reacting to Sin

Every sin, even socially acceptable ones, leads to death. Illegal downlaoding, telling little white lies, and cheating on tests are all sins. They may be "socially acceptable," but they are sins nevertheless, and God hates sin.

The early Israelites most likely knew that they should patiently wait for Moses to return, and follow after God. After all, they had seen firsthand just how powerful God is. But they had also lived in a polytheistic culture for the past 400 years, and they just did not realize how big of a deal it was to worship other gods. J. R. Miller writes that through Exodus 32, "We see what a fearful thing sin is." God wasn't just unhappy or upset about what Israel had done. He was furious. So much so, that God was going to utterly and completely destroy them.

More than just showing us the dangers of sins, this passage also shows us what our response should be when we encounter sin in the lives of other believers. As Miller writes, "Moses hastened down when he was told that the people had corrupted themselves, and in his anger dashed the tablets of stone from him and broke them, when he found the people engaged in heathen rites." Moses didn't just have a "judge not least ye be judged" attitude, nor did he ignore what he saw. When he saw his brothers in sin, he acted in righteous anger and put a quick stop to it. When we see blatant sn in our fellow brothers and sisters, we must understand that we are expected to react to the sin. This requires prayer first, but it also requires action.

[And yes, on AFF written by minors is considerably sin, too. AFF in itself is so much more corrupted than we deem it to be...]

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A Letter to God

Gracious God, I ask for forgiveness for my sins.

Far too often, far too easily, I allow sin into my life.

Give me courage to face those worst parts of myself and the strength to overcome. In Jesus' name. Amen.