Exodus 32 – Never Break Loose!
After 40 days and nights atop Mt. Sinai with God, God sends Moses back down to the people. In his absence, the people seem to have lost faith and have turned aside from God to idol worshiping. Moses confronts Aaron (who had made a golden calf for the people to worship), saying, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?” Aaron’s response is almost laughable! First, he appeals to Moses, “You know the people, that they are set on evil!” He then goes on to say that he had gathered the gold from them and, “threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” LOL, really? Amazing! It just popped out of that fire!?
Verse 25 says, “Aaron had let them break loose.” From what? From holding fast to God’s commands. Moses stands at the gate of the camp and asks, “‘Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.” And God then has the Levites “put to the sword” all those not with the LORD, about 3,000 men! I’d say God is pretty serious about sin! And His words in verse 33 still ring just as true today: “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.”
But what about those washed in Jesus’ blood? Two verses come to mind. 1) Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’…and then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” And 2) Romans 6:15, “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” We are indeed saved by Christ’s blood alone, but that cleansing of our sin should result in change. Change of heart, change of action, change of habit.
I read something astounding recently from an online devotional that stated “only 37 percent of American pastors hold to a biblical worldview. Many do not hold biblical beliefs on issues such as salvation and human sexuality…These pastors were found to spend little time in God’s Word.”1 What? And here is the key point, “If we want to hold to sound doctrine, we must know the Bible… Because of sin and Satan, people don’t naturally love truth… Believers must cultivate love of truth as a godly habit.”
How will we stand firm if we don’t intimately know God’s Word and sound doctrine? How will we remain faithful if we don’t intimately know what and to Whom we are to remain faithful? This requires discernment, Biblical discernment found only by the careful reading and studying of God’s Word!
2 Tim 4:3-4 says, “The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth.” How many present-day “Aarons” are among us? Bringing great sin upon their congregants or followers, leading them to break loose from the commands of the Creator of the universe?
We must be about turning our ears toward the truth, not away from it! And to do this, we must quiet our hearts and our minds enough to tune in, to be able to hear God’s still, small voice! Yada God, Yada His Word, and never break loose from it!
Submitted by YadaFactor Coach, Jessica Davie
