July 17

“The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Exodus 32:6      

When God chose Israel to be his people, his plan was that they should be a kingdom of priests to himself. Now, however, they were worshiping an idol of their own choice and design. Their happiness lay in the fact that they could see this god which Aaron had cast of molten gold. The God whom Moses had led them to know had the great disadvantage of being invisible, and now even Moses himself was not to be found. It was very much easier for them to worship the golden calf standing there, familiar in form, in full view before them.

They now had another god and another worship. Whereas God had intended them to be his priests, they had turned themselves into priests of the calf. Man’s attitude of independence always leads him to prefer a god of his own making. He likes to worship what he can see and manipulate. It is much harder to submit to the authority of his faithful, unseen Creator.