Always: A 5-Day Devotional With Chris TomlinSýnishorn

Golden Calves

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf…’” Exodus 32:7-8 (NIV)

Before Joshua became the leader of the Israelites, Moses was, of course, the face of this freedom movement. There’s a story in Exodus 32 where Moses is still very much in charge, but Joshua makes a small cameo.

The passage of Scripture picks up after Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, back at the camp, the Israelites are growing wildly impatient, wondering if Moses is ever going to come back down the mountain. Convinced they can’t wait a minute more, they approach Moses’ brother, Aaron, and ask him to make them a god they can worship.

Aaron gives in to peer pressure and folds. He melts down some jewelry and fashions a golden calf. The Israelites begin worshipping this false god and start to get pretty rowdy. As Moses makes his way down the mountain with two stone tablets inscribed with God’s most important commands, he hears them. That’s where Joshua makes his appearance. Moses asks Joshua, “What’s all that racket?”

Joshua says it sounds like war, but Moses disagrees; he thinks it sounds more like a celebration, and he’s right. When he gets to the camp, the Israelites dance and sing, praising this golden calf. Moses gets so mad he breaks the tablets.

Eventually, God punishes the Israelites for their disloyalty with a plague, but this is only after Moses begs the Lord not to wipe them out completely.

Ironically, the first command on the stone tablets reads: You shall have no other gods before Me.

We’re just as guilty of breaking this command. We might not worship golden calves, but we always fashion idols out of stuff less valuable than gold - people, money, careers, material possessions, addictions. They can all become idols if we’re not careful. Anything that takes the place of Jesus in our lives is an idol — even good things.

Those idols then become strongholds that fix our attention on the wrong things. God, however, won’t settle for second place. What strongholds are keeping Him from His rightful place in your life?