The Golden Calf
EXODUS 32:1-35
It’s hard to hear this story and not say to ourselves, “How did things go so wrong so fast?” It’s been just over a month since Israel’s marriage to God and she’s already broken her vows! Making an idol, bowing to an image, and trifling with the worship of his holy name. Which leaves us thinking, “How could they do that?” “How could they do the exact opposite of what God had so explicitly commanded them not to do?” They really thought it would be a good ideal to worship the golden calf. And if this seems ridiculous it should. That’s exactly the point. Sin doesn’t make sense. The high-handed crime of idolatry should be unthinkable. But we live in a world where the unthinkable happens every day. Where we find ourselves so prone to reach for something that isn’t God to relieve our fears, bear our hopes, and satisfy our souls in all sorts of ways. Exodus 32 comes to expose what’s happening in our hearts and point to the only One worth reaching for.