Ex 24:12 NIV
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”
“He 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.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” Ex 32:4-5 NIV
Whereas God had a plan to institute worship in Israel and for that reason He called Moses to a lengthy discussion where He gave details concerning the Priesthood, the Temple, the Levitical order etc. In the heart of God, He wanted His people to have access to His presence even though the plan was not the perfect plan. God gave details that one could not have imagined; the temple building and all its instruments of worship, the making of the High priest’s garments, the order of the priest and the different sacrifices were all to be done precisely.
The Temple worship was to be glorious celebration before the Lord. Of course there were times of repentance and confessions; but each time was to bring joy to the hearts of the people of God for being able to come into His presence to receive forgiveness of sins and to be set at right with God; this brought great joy.
While God was doing this in silence with Moses, the enemy of God and man began to subtly instruct them about an alternative ‘worship celebration’. Although Satan did not know what God was exactly conceiving in His heart, he knew God is always seeking true worshippers. So, he quickly gave them something that they would rejoice in, as a form of worship, but it was the work of their own hands. The Golden calf was the work of man; it was the idea of Satan to distract the people from true worship. It is worship that is convenient and pleasant to man; it is a ‘tare’! It grows like grass without much nurturing. When the people saw the golden calf they began to sing and dance and then sinned against God by committing immorality. That is the end of all that Satan conceives; it is to turn the hearts of men against God. It is to set man in direct opposition to God.
I fear that today there are many ‘Golden calf’ projects in our Churches and fellowships; worship that pleases the flesh and not the Spirit. We have worship, things that are done in the name of God but for the glory of man and Satan. The origin of such worship is not of the Spirit. Perhaps we had sought God but could not wait patiently for Him to deliver His plan to us, so we conceived something that looks like worship but it is not true worship. A lot of activities go on that only add to the ranks of our Bishops and Senior Pastors but God is gaining nothing by them. We build temples and synagogues; make a lot of money; breakthroughs of every kind; these are the things we rejoice and celebrate but not God. God gains nothing by those things; His Kingdom is little or not at all advanced by our blessings and breakthroughs. Our great efforts have achieved attractive ‘golden calfs’ for us; but God is not in it.
To go in God’s way, we must turn away from fleshly made idols; attractive they may be, laudable and applaudable as they are yet they are not the perfect plan of God for us. Shall we not turn away from these ‘golden calfs’ in order to receive what God has for us? Unless a man turns fully away from His idols, he cannot go with God and experience Him. No wonder the Children of Israel could not receive what Moses was bringing to them. Their hearts were already occupied with something else and not prepared for God. Moses brought laws that would make them righteous and holy, loving one another, at peace with one another and with God. But they had their hands already full with an alternative. May God deliver us from alternative ways. The Golden calf was an alternative way of worship; it was idolatry. May God deliver His Church from idolatry.
May God give us hearts to wait upon Him for His good and perfect will at all times. Amen.