Today we have a story from the Old Testament. These stories happened long ago and to people who lived in a different way from how we live today. You might wonder what these stories have to do with us. Let’s see if we can find an answer to that question.

You may remember that Moses was the man who led the Israelites out of Egypt. They traveled through the wilderness for a long time. They had many difficult experiences, but God helped them along the way.

In today’s story Moses was called by God to go up the mountain and while he was there he received the Ten Commandments – God’s rules to help us live a good life.

Moses stayed on the mountain longer than the people thought he should. They said, “…we don’t know what has become of him” (32:1). So, they went to Aaron, Moses’ brother, and told him they wanted to make gods to lead them.

Aaron told them to gather the people’s gold jewelry and bring it to him. Aaron took the gold and made it into a golden calf. He “built an altar before it” (32:5) and the people came and worshipped the golden calf. This made God angry.

The people had quickly forgotten how God cared for them and had used Moses to lead them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. They experienced many of God’s miracles along the way, yet they forgot about God’s goodness and instead worshipped a gold statue.

What can we learn from this story? Anything that keeps us from placing God first in our lives is a mistake. Sometimes people let money or things or having a good time become more important than God. There is nothing wrong with enjoying all of these blessings, as long as they don’t become the most important thing in our lives.

Let’s remember to give thanks to God who created us and everything in our world.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2013, Richard Niell Donovan