Dodging the Bullet

Exodus 32

Have you ever dodged a bullet by getting caught at something you know was wrong and you didn't want the truth to come out?

That was what Aaron, the brother of Moses had done while Moses was up on the mountain getting the ten commandments from God.

The children of Israel had began to wonder what was going on with Moses staying so long there. Perhaps they got tired of waiting. They weren't even sure where he was.

Aaron had been left in charge of them, and so he told them to bring all their gold jewelry and he made a golden calf out of the gold for them to worship And then they partied  and all this had angered God. He told Moses to go down to the people and let him be alone because in fact, he wanted to destroy them.

Moses convinced God not to destroy them before taking the two tablets with the ten commandments on them, and he saw the golden calf and the people drinking and dancing. He became angry himself and threw down the tablets which then broke into pieces.

Then he destroyed the golden calf. He asked Aaron what the people had done to him that made him do this sin. Aaron told him that these people were prone to sin, and that they had not known what had happened to him and wanted something to worship, and so he had gathered all their gold up and threw it into the fire.

"...and out came this calf." (verse 24)

The people were evil. Moses was no where around. A calf came out of the fire.

Aaron offered no responsibility for his own sin of not standing up to the people and preaching against their sin. Instead he helped them do it.

He wasn't the first one to dodge the bullet in the history of man. It started with Adam and Eve in the garden. It has continued up to this very day. It continues in Washington DC. It continues in our own homes.

We may not worship a golden calf. And yet, we worship other things that can be just as destructive.Money, a car, a home. Even other people if we put any of these before God. And when we do something that we know is wrong and get caught at it, we try to dodge the bullet by blaming everyone and everything else, except where the blame should really be. On us.

As with the children of Israel, we all have to pay the consequences of our actions. But the thing is, God is always ready forgive us, because he loves us. Even when he is angry with us. He forgives. And then he forgets it. Because he loves us. Because he is God.

November 23, 2019 Promise: For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sin no more. Hebrews 8:12