Christ Church Daily Devotion June 29 2024

Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for June 29, 2024. Today, we will be reading from Exodus, chapter 32, verses 1 through 14. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, Come, make us gods. Who will go before us? As for this fellow, Moses, who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what happened to him. Aaron answered them, Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me. So all of the people took their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol, cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, These are your gods. Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go down, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol, cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, These are your gods. Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. I have seen these people, the Lord said to Moses, and they are stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone, so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. Lord, he said, Why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce anger. Relent, and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever. Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. My initial reaction when I read this passage is something like, How in the world could they do this? God had worked through Moses to perform many miracles, freeing them from bondage in Egypt and rescuing them at the Red Sea and bringing them to this point. Why would you so quickly abandon God? But then I look in the mirror and wonder how many times we all turn to other gods of security when God doesn't do what we want done. I'm also fascinated with the patience and humility of God in this passage. God enters this dialogue with Moses and really listens to what Moses has to say, being swayed by his argument. It reminds us of just how much God loves us and seeks to be in relationship with us. We all mess up at times. We all have given God reasons to give up on us, and yet God keeps reaching out to us, doing so most fully by sending Jesus Christ to save the whole world. Who do you know who has messed up? Who do you know that needs to hear of this God who helps, loves them, and seeks them? Pray for God to guide you in how you can best help these people, them, all understand and connect with this God who is always ready to connect with them. Your personal worship option today? Offer this prayer or one like it in your own words. Gracious and patient God, thank you so much for the many times you have been patient with me. Continue to forgive me for any way I hinder your kingdom from coming on earth and help me share your message of love and grace with others. In Jesus' name, amen.