Today's Daily Lesson comes from Exodus chapter 32 verses 21 through 24:
21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
There's an old Janet Jackson song which might make for a theme-song to today's lesson: "What Have You Done for Me Lately?"
40 days. Moses had been gone up the mountain 40 days and the people had received no word from him or from the LORD. And so, they grew anxious. What if Moses wasn't coming back down? What if there was no more word to be had from the LORD? God had led the people across the Red Sea; but what had He done for them lately? More specifically, what had his priests done for them lately? 40 days was apparently just too long. "Make us gods," they demanded of Aaron. And out of his own insecurity and fear Aaron obliged.
I was talking with the pastoral staff at church yesterday. The calendar for May is just chock-full and we're spending all April getting ready. "Then come June," I said, "there's not much."
"They'll wonder what they're paying us for," another pastor quipped.
They sure will. And if today's lesson is true, then after about 40 days we'll be eager to show them.
And the Biblical term for that is temptation.
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