Monday, October 3, 2016

Looking Forward to October 9, 2016 -- Thanksgiving Sunday, The Golden Calf Episode

The Scripture Reading this week is Exodus 32:1-14

The Sermon title is Grateful

Early Thoughts: The people have been led to freedom. But the journey is not going quite as they had expected. To put it frankly, the people are NOT impressed.

A few chapters earlier they have been grumbling about the lack of food and water (they are in the desert after all) and some of them mutter that they may have been better off as slaves in Egypt.

Now Moses has been gone a LONG time up on the mountain. Is he still there? Is he still alive? Is he ever going to come back?

Well just in case, we should have a back up plan. And so they (with the assistance of Moses' brother Aaron -- either willingly or under coercion) melt down their gold, much of it "liberated" from their Egyptian neighbours, and make a calf which they worship.

God is not impressed. God has to be talked (or arguably shamed) out of destroying the whole lot of them.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I mean really, what link could there possibly be...

Actually I think that this is the most egregious in a series of events which show that the people have forgotten what God has done for them. They move into wanting everything to be just right and complain about what goes wrong. Their gratitude, which was very evident as the sea closed and drowned Pharaoh's army, seems to be lacking in much of the rest of the journey.

Of course we would never do that. We would always be thankful.  Right?

Right?

Sometimes I think we also are lacking in the gratitude department. Sometimes we find other idols that get in the way of our recognizing what God has done in our lives. When do we need to be reminded to be grateful?
--Gord




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