49. Take a stand for God

Moses was up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. There the Lord spoke to him and gave him instructions on the building of the Tabernacle, the clothing of the priests etc. God also gave him two stone tablets on which God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger, signaling the signing of the covenant between Israel and God. But while Moses was gone, the people of Israel fell back into their old ways of idol worshipping. They approached Aaron who was left in charge of the people:

"Look," they said, "make us some gods who can lead us. This man, Moses, who brought us here from Egypt, has disappeared. We don't know what has happened to him." So Aaron said, "Tell your wives and sons and daughters to take off their gold earrings, and then bring them to me." Then all the people obeyed Aaron and brought him their gold earrings. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded and tooled it into the shape of a calf. The people exclaimed, "O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!" Exodus 32:1-4

I was so shocked when I read this, so shocked in the Israelites, but particularly in Aaron. He was left in charge with Moses gone and he fell under the group pressure. But what is so shocking to me is that he didn't even try and convince them otherwise. He didn't even try to come up for God and reminded them how amazing He was. He immediately gave in to their request without any further ado. And then he got into the swing of things and took matters even further by building an altar to this new god and suggesting that they had a feast in honor of it! And this is now after he had seen the miraculous acts of God in Egypt, after he had heard God's voice from heaven, and even after he had seen God face to face and had a meal with Him along with Moses. It is incredible! He turned his back on God at the first test that came his way. How disappointing.

Now when Moses came down he was beside himself with anger. He even threw the stone tables inscribed by God, to pieces. He immediately demanded an explanation from Aaron. And Aaron, without thinking clearly, made excuses and came up with a ridiculous lie!

"You yourself know these people and what a wicked bunch they are. They said to me, 'Make us some gods to lead us, for something happened to this man Moses, who led us out of Egypt.' So I told them, 'Bring me your gold earrings.' And when they brought them to me, I threw them into the fire and out came this calf!" Exodus 32:22-24

Incredible. He claims that the calf just magically came out of the fire. He suddenly wanted to claim innocence and forget that he actually molded the calf himself and even built an altar to it! I laughed when I heard this, but we do the same.

We tend to fall under pressure too. When we are amongst unbelievers or even lukewarm believers, we are scared to stand up for what is right. We are scared to tell them what they are talking about is against God's standards or what they are planning to do is not morally correct. We don't want to take a stand for the truth. We are scared we won't be liked; we won't be popular or scared that we will be laughed at. And when God confronts us afterwards, we tend to be like Aaron and think of ridiculous excuses of why we couldn't take a stand for Him.

Don't fall under pressure, if something is not right, it is not right. If Aaron took a stand, they would never have made the calf. They respected him too much. How do I know that? They could have built the calf without his consent, but they didn't, they asked his permission and asked him to make it for them. Plus when Moses came, they listened immediately, all two million of them.

People will respect you for taking the correct stand even if they don't show it. Deep down people inherently know what is right, and they will admire you for taking a stand, even if you never see the admiration in their eyes. But even more importantly, God will stand proud. He will be proud of you and He will reward you accordingly.

Father it is so difficult to take a stand in this evil world of ours, but thank you that You are right next to us to give us the power and the strength to do it. Amen

2 comments for “49. Take a stand for God”

  1. Gravatar of MariMari
    Posted Friday, 10 May 2013 at 3:11:40 PM

    Ek stem saam.As jy die keuse gemaak het om jou lewe af te le by die kruis. dan verwag God van jou om Hom onvoorwaardelik te dien. Hy is n jaloerse God & deel nie Sy heerlikheid met ander gode nie. Dis of vir Hom , of teen Hom. Daars nie n middeweg nie

  2. Posted Tuesday, 14 May 2013 at 10:07:49 AM

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