{"id":20228,"date":"2022-02-11T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-31_1-18-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-02-13T16:14:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T23:14:51","slug":"exodus-32_1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-32_1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Be a Slave to Public Opinion + You\u2019ve Got An Intercessor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exodus \u00a032:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 32:1-14.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 32:1-4 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0The Israelites were probably eager to get going and were tired of waiting for Moses to come down from his 40 day meeting with God on Mount Sinai.\u00a0\u00a0So the Israelites ask Aaron to make them new gods.\u00a0\u00a0Aaron responds by collecting gold earrings from the Israelites and fashions them into a calf-shaped idol, saying that these are the gods who brought them out of Egypt.<\/p>\n

Instead of encouraging the people to be patient and to wait for Moses and the LORD to be done their meeting, Aaron gave into the sinful and rebellious demands of the people.\u00a0\u00a0As leaders we want to hear out the people that we lead, but we need to be wise and discerning in how we respond to the requests they make.\u00a0\u00a0For just because a person or a group is loud doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re right.\u00a0\u00a0Good leaders aren\u2019t slaves to the opinions of the people they serve.\u00a0\u00a0Good leaders are careful to give the people what is best for them, even if what is best is different from what they are demanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, just because God doesn\u2019t do things according to your timing doesn\u2019t mean that God is not there, or that God does not care, or that it\u2019s time to find another god.\u00a0\u00a0It simply confirms that you\u2019re not God.\u00a0\u00a0Have the patience to wait on God and His timing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exodus 32:5-6 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the\u00a0LORD.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6:\u00a0\u00a0So as to make the Israelites\u2019 idolatry look and feel not so much like idolatry, Aaron packages the Israelites\u2019 idolatry with words like \u201cthis is a festival to the LORD\u201d, \u201cburnt offerings\u201d and \u201cfellowship offerings\u201d, and builds an altar.\u00a0\u00a0Yet it didn\u2019t change the fact that the Israelites had turned from worshiping the living LORD to worshiping a lifeless golden calf.<\/p>\n

Exodus 32:7-14 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I have seen these people,” the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Moses sought the favor of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0his God. “O\u00a0LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why 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.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Remember 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.'”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 7-14:\u00a0\u00a0The LORD was rightly angry at the Israelites for so quickly turning away from Him even after all that the LORD had done for them and going ahead to worship something else.\u00a0\u00a0Being sovereign and fully entitled to do whatever He wants to do, the LORD had every right to destroy the Israelites for their sin.\u00a0\u00a0Yet Moses stands in the gap and pleads for the LORD to relent.\u00a0\u00a0On the basis of Moses\u2019 intercession, the LORD relents and has mercy on the Israelites.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

First, we see the power of intercession.\u00a0\u00a0When we step into our calling as priests in God\u2019s kingdom and we pray for those around us, we can move the heart of God who hears our prayers.\u00a0\u00a0Your prayers matter so keep on praying for people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, like the Israelites, we deserved to perish because of all the ways we had turned from the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0just as Moses did here for the Israelites, Jesus stood in the gap for us, interceded for us<\/strong>, spoke on our behalf, and diverted the wrath of God that was against us when He died on the cross.\u00a0\u00a0Even today, Jesus continues to stand at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us<\/strong>\u00a0(Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).<\/p>\n

Father, please forgive us for times when we so quickly turn away from You.\u00a0\u00a0May we have the patience to wait on Your timing.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus, thank You for always living to intercede for us.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 32:1-14.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 32:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
\n3\u00a0\u00a0So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0The Israelites were probably eager to get going and were tired of waiting for Moses to come down from his 40 day meeting with God on Mount Sinai.\u00a0\u00a0So the Israelites ask Aaron to make them new gods.\u00a0\u00a0Aaron responds by collecting gold earrings from the Israelites and fashions them into a calf-shaped idol, saying that these are the gods who brought them out of Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20228"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20305,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20228\/revisions\/20305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}