While Moses was on Mount Sinai in the Lord’s presence, the people
waiting for him at the base of the mountain where getting restless and anxious.
They started to question whether or not this man Moses, who led them out of
Egypt, was still with them. It had been forty days since he ascended that
mountain and disappeared into the cloud that the Lord resided in. Their faith
seemed to weaken by the hour as they
waited. So they resorted to creating their own god to bring them peace,
confidence, and security. They created a golden calf that was to be their new
god. When the Lord noticed what the people were doing, he spoke the words above
to Moses. God was ready to blast these people, removing them from the very
earth that they stood on…erasing their existence because of their pitiful
behavior. As Christians today, we still sin much like these people did
thousands of years ago. We are no better and we are no worse. But when we sin
today, we can turn to Jesus in repentance, and we have shelter from God’s
anger. Muck like the people at the base of the mountain, we still very much
deserve to have God’s anger burn against us. Yet it does not…for Jesus steps in
and takes the punishment for us. When Christ died on the cross, all of God’s
anger for the sins of man burned against him. Once for all, the punishment was
dealt, the price was paid. When we repent and profess complete dependence on
God’s saving grace through Christ’s sacrifice, we are not destroyed but rather
rescued…we are not eliminated by rather pardoned….we are not destroyed but
rather preserved. May we take time to ponder two things today: 1) God deeply
hates our sin and our defiance to his commands, and 2) God loves us so deeply
that he sacrificed his Son so that his anger does not have to burn against us. We
are an incredibly blessed people, wrapped in the incredible love of the Lord.
To God be the glory!
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