by Hillary Krahn And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ Exodus 32:21-23
Our verse for today takes place when Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the newly formed tablets containing the Ten Commandments written by God himself. He’s been up the mountain awhile talking to God and when he comes down, he’s found that Aaron succumbed to the Israelites wishes for a gold calf and helped them make one to worship. They had grown restless while waiting for Moses, not trusting that God had a plan and Moses would return to them. A few verses before this in v19 we see that Moses' anger “burned hot” and he broke the first edition of the Ten Commandments out of anger. If you think Moses was angry, I can only imagine how God felt. The Israelites were a people wandering in the desert, constantly sinning and repenting on a continuous cycle. They never quite understood God’s plan for them. We are oftentimes like the Israelites, forgetting the goodness of God, forgetting to look to the cross, to go to the Word, to go to prayer. Things aren’t happening like we want or as fast as we want. Perhaps we have a faith partner who we lean on and when they’re out of sight we fear they’ll never be back! However, our story is a little different from that of the Israelites. There’s one really important factor missing from their journey. That factor is Jesus. We have a different hope than the Israelites did. They knew a Messiah would come, but they didn’t know when, and they quickly lost sight of that. We know that a Messiah HAS come and will come again, forgiving our sins and quenching that burning hot anger that we would face from God. When we’re in that desert of sin we can remember to kneel at the feet of Jesus, repenting of whatever our golden calf is, and we will receive forgiveness. The Israelites faced death and being removed from God’s book for what they did. We don’t face that punishment, Jesus has bore that consequence for us! Prayer: Dear Jesus, send the Holy Spirit to guide me and make wise decisions in my life so that I don’t fall into hopelessness and sin like the Israelites. Help me to repent of my ways when I become impatient with your plan. Thank you for the salvation you have given me that has saved me from death and condemnation. In your name I pray, Amen.
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About the AuthorsThe authors of this Lenten devotional are all staff members of Zion Lutheran Church & School of Wayside. They have answered the call to preach and teach the good news of salvation to both the young and the old of the school and congregation. This group of believers have a strong faith rooted in the Word. They are all members of the church professing the Christian faith and are excited to share their love of Jesus with you during this season. Archives
January 2025
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