Disobedient God: Trusting a God Who Goes Off ScriptНамуна

Start by reading Exodus 32:1 and Psalm 27:4

We all have our own ways of dealing with those times when things don’t go our way, or when things happen that we just don’t understand.

In Exodus 32 the people of Israel, who have witnessed sign after sign and wonder after wonder from God, choose their way of dealing with a disobedient God: they replace Him.

“As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

It’s as if Israel is a manager at Starbucks and God is late to His shift. What is an employer to do when this happens? Find someone else to work the shift! But it’s worse than that - Israel wants to craft something inferior and inanimate to take the place of the Lord.

Now, the people of Israel feel like an easy target a lot of times, and we rightly see where they miss the mark. But let’s be honest with ourselves: we all have this tendency, and we have all given in to it at some point.

How often can you relate to the people of Israel when they “saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain…” in your life?

Often it feels like God just takes too long. We see ourselves as faithful. We see ourselves as patient. We just know something was supposed to happen by now. And when we feel that, we can elevate ourselves to manager and say to God, “You’re late. I’ll find someone or something else.”

This mindset comes from a scarcity point of view. There are only so many resources, only so much money, only so much time…and I need to get mine and keep it.

When we live life this way, we only see what’s missing and what is slipping away.

But that’s not what our Father or His Kingdom does, and it’s not all that is available. God’s Kingdom is one of abundance and He desires to give it to us.

What if, instead of using all that energy to create a replacement for God, we reached for Him? What would it look like if you stopped working and re-working the scarce resources you can provide on your own and trusted in the abundant resources available to you in the Kingdom?

This isn’t easy, and it isn’t what’s natural. We all have automatic ways we respond, often without even noticing. In all sorts of ways we reach to replace God instead of reaching for God Himself.

So we need to relearn how to react to God, especially when we’re confused, afraid, or disappointed. Deep down, our souls long for God. It may seem deeper down and more buried for some of us, but it’s true. The longing is there. Every one of us has a deep need for God Himself.

Ask yourself today, “What am I reaching for, what am I longing for, and can I tell the difference?” Where does your reaction and reaching not line up with what you long for?

Let’s all aim for the heart of King David in Psalm 27:4 when he wrote: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

What we seek is what we reach for. Seek the Lord by reaching for Him today.