Exodus 32:1-6 (NRSV)
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain,
the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make gods for us, who
shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land
of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
2 Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears
of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off the gold
rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4
He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image
of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out
of the land of Egypt!"
5 When Aaron
saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said,
"Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD." 6
They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and
brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and
rose up to revel.
I hear people say to me, "I can't believe in a god who would condemn people to hell!" It doesn't matter which sin we are talking about. They have already agreed to the sin. They want a god who allows anything they see as agreeable to be their god. They have failed to realize that any god they can create can't really be God.
The God of the Bible is the only God. There is none like Him. He has a standard of righteousness which rubs many people the wrong way. They want a god who will go the way of the world. They want a god who will let them party as much as they would like performing any act they like. They don't want restrictions. They want a god who will comply with their own changing morality. They want a god who will do what they want when they want. They want a god who answers their prayers without any restrictions.
Moses and Joshua went up on the mountain. A majority of the people wanted a god whom they would ascribe the good things that God had done. They sought a different god whom they could see. They weren't any different than people are today.
And why don't they know this is wrong? They lived in Egypt complying with their gods and could see no difference in the God of Abraham and the gods of the Egyptians. They had not experience a God who had righteous standards. Their standards allowed for almost anything.
It is amazing how fast people turn from God to making their own gods. Ten years ago I would not have believed the morality of this country would have gone so far as today. We finally have a generation that does not know God nor His works. They are making up their own god to comply with their own morality.
Christianity has fallen out of favor in the past ten years. It has been called everything from intolerant to judgmental to hateful. Those who condemn Christianity want to manufacture a new god who will meet their needs and approve their actions.
The Bible, the best seller of all time, is rarely read. People own something that could help them in their relationships, give them direction in their decisions and bring them close to God. They see the Bible as outdated because it speaks of sin when they want to eliminate the word "evil" from their vocabulary.
Again, I am perplexed in what to do. There must be people praying that God will cause His Spirit to take hold once again. There must be people who will pray that a true God-sent revival break out.
Unfortunately, I do not see people deciding to pray. I see God giving us over to deeper sins. He withdraws a bit of His presence which is His grace and the people create a new god.
Please pray, pray pray for revival.
1 comment:
Well, watched Bruce Almighty?
Not so simple being God-lah!
More agreeable God, then…. Everyone wants a Saleen S7 (racing car) and unhindered right of passage. What will that make things be? Not one car but thousands upon thousands of speeding cars, all at the same time. You better get off the road, Ps Prentis, you and your bic! Or maybe you too, be in a Saleen S7!
In the movie, Bruce Almighty was overloaded with people’s petitions, and he resorted to hammering yes, yes and yes, to every request; the movie under-showed the disasters that could happen, of course.
Why can’t God “be more agreeable”? A teenage girl came up to the altar to have me prayed for her. This epitomises classic, and so, I share: This girl was in the school team for a sports, squash (perhaps). She was ranked tops, single digit, in the country. She and her school team practised hard for a schools meet. She would pray for the competition, and her teammates knew she was pious and all the prayer sessions she had. The day came, and she played against another student, ranked much, much further down the list; and she did poorly to her own surprise and her teammates. Her team lost, when she was hoping that she and her team would win, to bring glory to the team, school, and to God, she explained. Why did God let that happen – they lost. At this point she was near tearing. What do you do? How would you counsel?
The gist of what I said was this, that it COULD BE the other team also had someone praying to God, and that someone needed it more – to win, and God considered her to be mature enough and able to sacrifice, this time, so that another could be blessed by God. I assured her God knew, and would remember, and perhaps, another time, He would show her favour over another (But it is right to be responsible, conscientious, diligent and praying for success of what we put our hands to. It is NOT “He is God; He does what He wants, anyway; why bother, praying”. It is despite, we NOT knowing fully, we operate in faith, wanting to be in agreement with God).
The above is classic, for example, even in the marketplace. Business people tender for projects; you are NOT the only Christian tendering, other brothers and sisters are also tendering. Now, it cannot be every Christian wins the project. It only happens in Bruce Almighty, because Bruce just pressed the “yes” key to every request, including the same request. Yah, you want to strike 1st prize lottery, he wants too, she, too, and the man down the street, too. They all strike, at the same time?! The job of a homecell leader is difficult enough, the senior pastor, more so, the President of the country, worse, and God, not easy at all! God to be more agreeable? Perhaps, we need to be more understanding and learn to be more godly with contentment. Run a church needs rules and regulations; runs a country, laws; run mankind in a fallen world, no need? People got to be joking.
Anthony Chia, high.expressions
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