Month: February 2017

I visited my grandsons earlier this week. I needed a “Grandma fix” and since the middle grandson was celebrating birthday #16, I thought it was a good time to visit.  They live a four-hour drive away from where I live so I hadn’t seen them since Christmas.  The birthday grandson is now a handsome 6‘3“ young man!  I’ve been looking up to him for quite some time. Now I look higher.

All the Smith Grandsons are fans of the UNO game, but not the UNO game I used to play.  They like UNO Attack, UNO Flash, UNO Flip, etc. Amazon.com has at least a dozen variations of UNO!  To say the least I do not like these variations!  But when grandsons challenge Grandma, she accepts.  I do not like UNO “whatever” but I do love my grandsons.  We played the Flash and Flip versions which weren’t quite as bad as the Attack.  I prefer playing “Sorry” which I almost won, second to grandson #3.

As I reflected on the UNO games I thought, how ironic that UNO, which means 1 in Spanish, has a dozen or more variations. It’s a contradiction of its name!  Then I remembered the commands that were given to the Israelites as they prepared to enter the land God had promised to them. Many times God reminded his people. “I am the Lord your God.” Moses repeated “the Lord your God” many times as he gave God’s law to the people.  Deuteronomy 6:4 tells us “the Lord is one.”  He is the holy ONE and the only ONE we are to worship and obey.   May we never try to make our own variations of the ONE TRUE GOD!

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

“When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced,‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD’ “ (Exodus 32:5).

What?!?!  I read this recently and was stopped in my tracks. As many times as I’ve read this passage about the making of the golden calf I never noticed the fact that Aaron had planned a festival to the LORD.  What was Aaron thinking?  Of course, I don’t know what he was thinking. I have an idea he was trying to appease the people with the golden calf, and at the same time he knew it was wrong.  So he built the altar and announced the festival to the LORD.

Was Aaron trying to use the calf as a symbol for God? Apparently, this is what King Jeroboam tried to do later as the kingdom was divided. King Jeroboam made two golden calves because he feared the people would give their allegiance to King Rehoboam in Judah, if they went back to the temple to worship (1 Kings 12:28-29).

It seems that Aaron and King Jeroboam had personal reasons for the making of the idol. King Jeroboam was trying to save his kingdom.  Aaron may have been trying to save his own skin by adding the altar for a sacrifice and planning a festival to the LORD. After all, the people had stated earlier they would do what God commanded. He had commanded: no idols, no worship of other gods. As their leader Aaron was responsible for the people.  Moses returned and saw the people were out of control and demanded an accounting from Aaron (Exodus 32:21-25).

I can’t help but think there is a lesson for me here.  Do I substitute something in place of God?  No, I haven’t made any golden calves.  Where would I get the gold? Is my worship pleasing to God? Does my life honor Him?  I don’t neglect being in my place on Sunday morning, but I sometimes forget that the rest of my life is to be lived in worship of God. The Apostle Paul tells me in Romans 12 to offer my body as a living sacrifice.  He says “This is your spiritual act of worship.”

As a retiree I’ve become too relaxed with my time management. It’s tempting to think there’s always tomorrow so I’ll put off the task until then. I’m spending more time watching TV than I ever did. How worshipful is that? I’m reading that novel instead of writing my blog.  I’m not saying these things are wrong for me to do. It’s just they sometimes take the place of something better. With God’s help I’m working on it. I need to make a schedule.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1).

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord’” (Exodus 10:1-2).

 

God chose Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask for release of the Israelites.  Moses gave excuses and was reluctant to take the job, but God prevailed and Moses along with his brother, Aaron, went to Pharaoh time after time.  Pharaoh refused to let the people go and God sent plagues on the Egyptians.  After the seventh plague God sent Moses back again and told him that He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  Imagine God asking you to do a job and telling you it won’t happen!

We talk about the “patience of Job” but think about how much patience Moses and Aaron must have had to go again and again to Pharaoh, only to have him go back on his word over and over.  I realized as I read this account last week that the passage says numerous times that “Pharaoh hardened his heart” or “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the hearts of his officials.”

Why did God have Moses work against such opposition? The Scripture above (Exodus 10:1-2) gives us two reasons. First, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that He might perform miraculous signs among them.  Then, they were to tell their children and grandchildren about their experiences. Could it be we go through difficulties in life for the benefit of our children and grandchildren?  Do we share our struggles and victories with our children and grandchildren?  I don’t do this often enough, especially with my grandchildren. Something to think about.

Second, the Lord said, “that you may know that I am the Lord.”  Sometimes I’m so busy with life  I forget it is the Lord who makes it all possible. Then I come up against a “hard-hearted Pharaoh” and I run crying to the Lord for help.  God wants me to know that He is the Lord. He is the One who is in charge and I am not. In Exodus 14 we see Moses crying out to God but God said to get moving. God harden the hearts of the Egyptians and gained the glory through the destruction of Pharaoh and his army.  It is God who desires and deserves the glory.  It is through my struggles God shows His glory. I must obey and continue to trust Him.  He will be glorified.  Will I let Him be glorified in me?