QT 5/4/2026 Exo 32:1-20, The battle against sin in our inner being

Exodus 32:1–4 (ESV) —

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods 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 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Exodus 32:11–14 (ESV) —

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

 

NOTE: Two things stand out to me in this passage. One, Aaron will end up lying about the event. Yes, he was under a lot of pressure because of the long absence of Moses, but he fashioned the calf, it did not come out that way as he will later argue in his defense. This is so true of sin, there are usually two responses to being caught in sin, one is to justify and the other is to lie about it. We are all guilty of the same responses when we are caught.

 

The second thing that stands out is that Moses stands up for the people and prays for them. I think God wanted Moses to pray for them. There were many times God could have and should have destroyed the people, but he did not. A good leaders prays for the people. We are certainly not worth it, in terms of behavior, but we are worth it, in the sense that Jesus died for us and we are now called God's adopted children. So, we need to pray for the believers and for their protection from sin. It is a dangerous thing to play around with sin. And I am speaking to myself in this regard as much as to anyone who might read this.

 

PONDER:

1. Do I play around the fire, in my mind, and maybe in my actions?
2. Or do I deal decisively when temptation attacks me?

 

PRAYER: Father, I do struggle with entertaining thought which are not good for my soul. I need your strength and power in my striving to battle the enemy. Give me grace and mercy. I am always in need.