1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. ~ Exodus 32:1-6
There are two kinds of fear that happens in these verses, the first one is fear of the unknown. The people didn’t know what happened to Moses, and they were no longer used to a God they could not see. So fear entered. Fear does that to us today. Is this God called Yahweh really God? Can He really keep you? Can He really be the only God? What if this is all a lie? Maybe He wasn’t the one that took you out of your situation, maybe that was another god. Maybe He is just a lie. Fear puts all of these doubts in your mind because we lack trust.
The lack of trust comes from the lack of faith and understanding. The people desired gods that they could see, just as the Egyptians had gods that they could see. Even though they just watched Yahweh, through Moses, cast 10 plagues on the Egyptians, deliver them out of Egypt, part the Red Sea, rain down Manna in the wilderness, none of that mattered to them. As soon as fear came into their midst and whispered, look Moses is delayed, they gave in and sought after other gods. That’s how we are today, we seek after other gods as soon as God does not show up on our time. As soon as we feel He is delayed, we run to something that we can see at that moment, in that time.
The other kind of fear is the kind Aaron had, fear of the people. I’m sure Aaron had some doubt as well, but his fear didn’t truly kick in until the people came up to him with their fear. Aaron gave in to the fear of the people turning against him, so he did as they asked. He made them a god out of their gold and then proceeded to intertwine their sin and God. Verses 5 and 6 say, “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’ 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play” He made the calf, then to make it seem alright in the eyes of God because he knew it was wrong, he had the people have a feast to the LORD. We do this today. We don’t go and have a feast, but we try to make sin as if it is acceptable in the eyes of God. We’re so afraid of people being offended by us, or being mad at us, or turning away from us that we will do whatever it takes to keep them happy. Fear tells us we’ll be alone, we’ll be hated, we’ll be ostracized, so we blend religion and sin so that we don’t have to completely turn our back on God, while still being accepted by the people.
Don’t allow fear to control your lives. Fear is a liar. Always has been and always will be. God may not come when you think He needs to, but He will come at the perfect time, His time. He won’t let you down. He’s never forsaken you, and He never will. Stand up for what is right, you may not be the most popular person, but you won’t be alone. There are others who follow God without making exceptions for the world.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fear Not.
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