Experiencing God's miracles won't guarantee your faithfulness to him.
Exodus 24:9-11 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of
Israel climbed up the mountain.
10 There they saw the God of
Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis
lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.
11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy
them.
In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!
Exodus 32:1-6 When 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.”
2 So Aaron said, “Take the gold
rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to
me.” 3 All the people took the gold
rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 Then 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!”
5 Aaron 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!”
6 The 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.
In my study of the book of Genesis and Exodus it has been so clear that God loves us and wants to restore our relationship with him to the intimate relationship that we had before sin came between us and him. God gave us a choice in the garden to let him define good and evil or eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that we can make our own rules.
From the beginning of time we have proof that it is difficult for man to trust
God's wisdom and consistently make good choices on our own. The Bible shows us
that our problem is the same as it was back then. When we take control and
decide good and evil the results are always more evil. (Genesis 6:5,
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 12:2)
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and even Moses all made poor choices
despite the close, intimate relationship with God. You may think
that you would be more consistent and behave so much better than they did
in the Bible but history has proven that no matter how much we learn about
God we will still have a problem trusting him and treating him as well as
he deserves.
God's people in Exodus have experienced him:
- Bring disaster on Egypt by the plagues and they saw him save his people by the Passover lamb. (Exodus 12)
- The Egyptians demand that they leave and they give them their wealth to take with them. (Exodus 12:31-42)
- Manifestation of God that went before them to lead the way. (Exodus 13:21-22)
- The crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of their enemies. (Exodus 14)
- Work miracles in the wilderness to teach them to trust him for their necessities. (Exodus 15-17)
- Defeat the army of Amalek (Exodus 17:8-16)
- Moses father in law declares that God alone saved his people from Egypt. (Exodus 18:9-11)
- God has taught them that he is holy, he is the only God and he must be worshiped properly. (Exodus 19-20)
- God's chosen people have been redeemed to live a new way. (Exodus 20-23)
- A new covenant with God is established. (Exodus 24-31)
Such amazing experiences with God made them so sure that
they could be committed to him and fully trust him. They agree to God's terms and Israel's leaders meet with God and even
eat a meal in his presence to ratify the new covenant before Moses is
called to climb the mountain higher to meet with God for 40 days.
(Exodus 24:7-18)
God's people needed less than 40 days to go back to the way of worship
they learned from the Egyptians. They didn't forget about God but they
wanted to remember the gods of Egypt and worship the way their evil
neighbors did despite how God had just finished judging them. The
blessings of God became a curse to the people, they took the gold from
Egypt and created an idol, they seem to want God but they also want to
have their idols too. (Exodus 14:1-4, 15:1-21)
God's purpose to make his people a priestly kingdom and a holy nation
that would be a witness for him to our dark world is difficult to
imagine. So far in the first two books of the Bible, God has been true
to his word despite the broken promises of his people.
At this point they are still at Sinai, God's glory has been obvious
for all to see, if they can't be true to him here just imagine what
happens when they start moving forward to the promised land.
(Numbers 11:1,10, 12:1-9, 14:1-2, 16:1-3, 20:1-3, 21:4-5)
Deuteronomy 8:2,10-11 Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.
10 When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.
The new generation of God's people will be reminded of the
reason why their parents did not receive the Promised Land. This new generation of God's people will need to guard their hearts even after the amazing miracles they will experience.
Everyone throughout the ages must decide for themselves. We are not forced to do what God wants, you cannot force love, there must be the freedom to chose God in order to truly love him. Man had to be a creature with a genuine will of his own. Otherwise, there could be no such thing as relationship or love. The possibility of love between man and God springs directly out of man’s freedom to choose.
We must guard our hearts so that we will make the right decision. Humbly digging into God's word everyday is the best way to guard your heart so that you will become more faithful to your promises to love and obey him. (Deuteronomy 11:26, 30:15 Psalms 119:30, 111, 173)
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