One Gold Earring Away

“Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings...and bring them to me...He took what they handed him and made it into an idol...Then they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’ Afterward...they got up to indulge...” Exodus 32:2-6.

In reading this familiar story this morning I am struck by new application in today’s world. Aaron didn’t approach the people with the idea of casting a new god...he was just a weak leader who couldn’t control those who were entrusted to him. He wanted a quick answer to a long-running problem ...dissatisfaction... discontentment...impatience. He wanted to give them what they wanted to make the problem go away. Instead of waiting on the Lord and encouraging them to do the same, they all reacted to the problem instead of responding in prayer and trust. Each person threw in their own offering to feed the fire that constructed the idol.

For me I turned to the stores and asked them to create a god for me who could fulfill my desires. Gold earring after gold earring I threw into the fire feeding the flame of my false god. Secretly I would toss another earring into the flame when no one was looking, and finally one day this golden calf arose out of the fire. As I stood there glaring at the enormity of my false god it glared back with empty eyes. It could not provide what was lacking in my heart. For it to go with me I had to drag it behind me. It eventually became too heavy of a burden and I could no longer carry its load. Faithfully, God broke me from its weight, and gave me freedom in that area for the most part. I will always have tendencies to reach for my gold earring, but faithfully God always convicts...always reveals...and always blesses when I am faithful for believing Him.

We all have the tendency to want to be delivered from our own Egypt so we turn to idols because we are tired of waiting on God. We choose over-spending, over-drinking, over-eating, or over-working as a means to deliver us...to satisfy us...to complete us. Anything we do in excess is our way of telling God that we don’t trust Him to be God and to provide all that He promises. Our culture will always stoke the fire of false gods, using what we hand them to create calves. I am so grateful that the God who truly goes before me loved me too much to allow my idol to destroy me. I never take His deliverance for granted, because without the constant awareness of Who saved me, I am one gold earring away from another calf.