Scripture
1When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” 2So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” 6The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. Exodus 32:1-6
Observation
Less than two months earlier the people of Israel had heard the voice of God Himself from heaven sharing the pathway forward through the Ten Commandments. Two months later they aren’t sure what has happened to Moses and Joshua and they’re not even sure they want to follow a God that has so many rules. So, they demand from their passive leader Aaron, in the words of Duzik, “a less demanding god”. Instead of worshipping a God in who’s image they have been made, they choose to worship a god of their own image, a familiar image from the gods of Egypt. Idolatry doesn’t require logic or reason as they give credit to this gold bull for leading them out of the slavery of Egypt even though this god didn’t exist the day before. Idolatry often just becomes a vehicle for a lazy faith, a desire to feel spiritual while doing exactly what our flesh longs to do without any stringent rules to make us feel guilty. The contrast is heart breaking. While God is on the mountain with Moses giving clear guidelines to a holy life, a sacrificial life lived in relationship with a holy God, standing distinct from the cultures around them, the people were running full speed in the exact opposite direction. “The idea of the verb ‘to cast off all restraints’ is that of loosening or uncovering. It would appear that there was a type of religious prostitution connected with the people’s worship of the golden calf.” (Kaiser). “In our modern culture we regard the absence of restraint as heaven on earth. But the Bible and common sense tell us that this kind of moral, spiritual, and social anarchy brings nothing but destruction.” (Duzik). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
Application
It would be easy to look at the narrative here with a sense of righteous indignation. For truly it was a disgusting display of a lazy faith that prefers spirituality without accountability. If we’re honest though, we do the same thing. When we can’t see what God is up to we stop waiting for His direction and we go back to what we know from our B.C. (before Christ) days. We keep posting scriptures on social media or praying for our meal so it feels like we’re still being spiritual. It’s so much easier to passively watch an online sermon and check off our “god box” for the week than to actually be in accountably and community with other brothers and sisters in the faith. Church from the chair, a Lazy Boy recliner level of engagement, is certainly en vogue these days. Instead of serving God alone, it's God plus whatever else we want to add on. Just like Israel, we look for the path of least resistance and we find leaders who will preach or fashion that which feels most comfortable to our preferred lifestyle. We can just call it legalistic when someone suggests spiritual practices such as fasting, prayer, solitude, giving, and serving. When confronted by Moses, Aaron the priest lied about how the idol was formed and used our favorite excuse, “it just happened and we went with it.” A lazy faith still makes us feel spiritual because it's not like we are saying "there is no God". We are just saying, "we love God PLUS we love the freedom to do things the way we want to." Way back in the 1800’s Spurgeon called us out on our days of lazy faith, “Lazy people always find fault with their tools, and those who do not intend to work always find some excuse or other; and then they make up for their laziness by having a delicious spiritual dream. Here the nominally Christian people about us are dreaming; and they consider that thus they are doing the work of the LORD. They are only doing it deceitfully by putting dreaming into the place of real service.” I can’t imagine what Spurgeon would say if he saw our modern-day substitutes for sincere faith and true service.
Prayer
Just like Moses who drew a line in the sand saying, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side; come to me”, I sense You are doing the same in Your Church. These past couple of years of pandemic, racial unrest, and political upheaval have served as a true demarcation point for Your followers. Many times, I have felt like Israel at the bottom of that holy mountain looking up and wondering what You are up to. I have felt the pull to justify a lazy faith that pulls back instead of pressing in. I have heard and seen leaders in Your Church fashioning messages that tickle the ears and appeal to our Americanized ideal of independence and a customizable faith made in our image. Meanwhile, Your still small voice is calling me to a greater seriousness, a deeper sincerity, and a sacrificial service to those around me. Forgive me for leading with a lazy faith like Aaron who was more concerned with pleasing people than pleasing You. Even when the pressure is on to fold and fit in with the popular narrative of a shallow spirituality I pray that You would help me to remember it’s not about me. It’s not about getting people to be on my side but, rather standing on Your side. This requires a daily dying to myself and a steady series of surrenders to Your will whether I agree with it or not. In the days of lazy faith I pray that my faith would be built on You, the rock that can’t be moved. That the only one I would bow to would be You!
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