Exodus chapter 32 tells the story of the golden calf. However, although that is a distinctive feature of this episode it’s simply the end result of an approach to religion that was bound to fail, because it refused to wait for the Word.
The damning indictment is recorded in verse six. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. The playing was musical rather than childish. As a result of this episode several significant events happen: Moses on seeing the people threw the stone tablets containing God’s Word to the ground, where they smashed; Moses destroyed the golden calf, pulverised it, and forced the people to consume it; Moses rallied those who were for God to slaughter those who had offended; the Lord sent a plague. All for a bit of singing and feasting? Moses’ words to his brother Aaron are telling: “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”
What was this great sin? The people knew that Moses heard God speak; they knew that Moses was going up the mountain to hear from God. The people were told specifically to wait. But they didn’t wait. Despite their sight of the glory of God, despite their fear of that glory and their knowledge that Moses was going up the mountain to encounter that same God they decided to do their own thing and to define their own religion. It’s ironic that the second command on those broken stone tablets was that the people should not make any images to worship.
Instead of waiting for the dispensation of God’s Word, passed to Moses, the people decided to ‘do’. They redefined their religion based on their own thoughts and desires. All of this was based on pragmatic impatience with Moses and with God. So, they took their religion into their own hands; they forged a golden image; they declared this image to be God; they commenced worship pronouncing this golden image to be their God. If that was their God, then who was on top of the mountain with Moses?
The crux of this corporate sin was that they were explicitly told to wait for the Word of God to be delivered; instead they offered an alternative way of worship, not based on God’s explicit Word. Impatience with God is at the least a grievous lack of faith. To replace God’s Word with our own ‘doing’ is to remove God from the worship of God.
The temptation to refuse to wait for God is strong, and in many cases overwhelming. The first conversation with the serpent in the garden encouraged Eve to take hold of her own life, to mould it for herself. We hear the same whisper about our churches and how we worship. We’re drawn to the images and the self serve programs and practices that are from and of our own hearts and designed to please the flesh. We must be careful here not to refuse everything that has no direct biblical reference. For example, we can use technology for worship and ministry despite it not being mentioned in Scripture. However, everything that we do must align fully with the principles of the Word. Our place is to wait for God, to seek him by his prescribed means. Every program, every method, every attitude must be measured carefully against Scripture’s principles. We don’t, and can’t know better than God.
Wonderfully, at Moses’ instigation the people turn back. In chapter 34 we read that new tablets are cut and written. The people confess their sins and commit to waiting for God to go up in their midst. This is the true picture of the people of God: walking together with God in the midst, watching him and going where he goes and at his pace.
Perhaps the best thing we could do on a Sunday morning is to set the program to one side, turn off the technology, leave the resources alone, and simply wait for the Lord to speak his Word to us. If that makes us twitchy; if we’re tempted to get up and do something, don’t. Wait on. God’s timing is perfect, and his Word is perfect, reviving the soul. And when God does speak, it will be balm to our soul, direction for our feet, and life giving truth to hold on to. Isn’t that worth waiting for?