Exodus 32:1-4
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
It is tempting to shake our heads at "those dumb Israelites" who made a golden calf, despite seeing all the mighty miracles of God in the desert. But, the truth is that we tend to make the same kinds of mistakes. I have been blessed with many wonderful things, and God has shown Himself to be faithful in my life. Yet, I still sometimes get anxious and try to control what God is doing. The Jews had not seen Moses for many days, and were feeling anxious. They wanted a tangible God that they could see and touch. So they tried to create one. This is the essence of idolatry, setting up something temporal to represent and replace the transcendent God. It's putting God in a box (or a cow), and thus limiting His true nature. It is also not trusting and waiting upon God. When we, who have God in our lives, choose to look at pornography, we are similarly not trusting and waiting upon God. We are choosing the temporal over the eternal.
Lord, forgive me for ignoring You, and for creating idols as substitutes for You. Help me to trust and wait for You to work.
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
It is tempting to shake our heads at "those dumb Israelites" who made a golden calf, despite seeing all the mighty miracles of God in the desert. But, the truth is that we tend to make the same kinds of mistakes. I have been blessed with many wonderful things, and God has shown Himself to be faithful in my life. Yet, I still sometimes get anxious and try to control what God is doing. The Jews had not seen Moses for many days, and were feeling anxious. They wanted a tangible God that they could see and touch. So they tried to create one. This is the essence of idolatry, setting up something temporal to represent and replace the transcendent God. It's putting God in a box (or a cow), and thus limiting His true nature. It is also not trusting and waiting upon God. When we, who have God in our lives, choose to look at pornography, we are similarly not trusting and waiting upon God. We are choosing the temporal over the eternal.
Lord, forgive me for ignoring You, and for creating idols as substitutes for You. Help me to trust and wait for You to work.