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Jim Carey starred in the movie Bruce Almighty. In the movie, Carey plays the character of Bruce Nolan, a TV reporter whose life is unraveling, and in the midst of his trials he complains to God. Bruce complains that God is not doing a very good job, and even claims he could do better at managing matters than God. So God appears to Bruce – in the guise of Morgan Freeman – and gives Bruce his powers for a week, with two exceptions: he cannot tell anyone he has those power and he cannot violate anyone’s free will. Bruce thinks this is a good deal and sets about working to run the world in the way that he sees fit. He is soon overwhelmed, however, with all the prayers that are sent his way, so he answers every one of the prayers with a yes. This does not improve matters, as he assumed it would. In fact, Bruce quickly finds that he is making matters much worse. As Bruce struggles with how to make things right in the world, he begins to understand that having God’s powers was not going to make things as easy as he had assumed. He finds it especially difficult when he loses his girlfriend. Because Bruce cannot violate free will, he finds that all his powers are of no help when it comes to winning back his girlfriend. At one point in the film, Bruce has another conversation with God, and he asks this question – how do you make so many people love you without affecting free ill? To which God responds, welcome to my world, son. I love that scene, and I love the premise of the film. Perhaps all of us have wondered what we could do if we had God’s powers. How might we run the world? Could we solve the problems of the world?
This morning, I am speaking about trust. Trust is very difficult, especially now, in the days in which we are living. In a moment, we will turn to one of the stories of the Hebrew people, as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. They struggled with trusting God, and they struggled with trusting Moses. In fact, the people struggled so much with their trust that they attempted to do what Bruce did in the movie Bruce Almighty– they attempted to wrestle divine powers from God and take those powers into their own hands, in the form of a golden calf.
As you will remember, I changed the theme of my messages from apologetics to The Journey. In this series, The Journey, we are using passages from the journey of the Hebrew people from captivity in Egypt to the Promised Land. We are in the midst of our own journey now, and there are a lot of parallels to the journey of the Hebrew people through the wilderness.
This morning’s Scripture text again comes from the book of Exodus, where we will spend most, or maybe all of our time, in this series. From Exodus 32:1-2, 4, 7, 11, 19-24, here is the text –
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.
23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’
24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Let’s talk about trust, because trust is one of the great elements of this part of the journey, both for the Hebrews and for us. Let’s talk specifically about the lack of trust on the part of Aaron and the lack of trust on the part of the people.
Aaron’s Lack of Trust.
Aaron is often overlooked in this story. Aaron, if you do not know, was the brother of Moses. Unlike Moses, Aaron did not grow up in the house of Pharaoh; Aaron and his sister Miriam grew up in Goshen. When God called Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses made some excuses, trying to get out of that calling. One of his excuses was that his inability to speak well (10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.
15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.
16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.
(Exodus 4:10-16).
To overcome that excuse, God sent Aaron along with Moses to be his spokesman when they approached Pharaoh.
When we come to this morning’s text, Moses is on the mountain, where God gives him the law and the Ten Commandments. While Moses is on the mountain, the people get very impatient, wondering if Moses will return, so they come to Aaron – who has been elevated to the position of leadership during the absence of Moses – and pressure him to fashion them a god who will go before them in their journey. Aaron gives in to their request, instructing the people to bring their gold to him, and from that gold he fashions a golden calf.
On the mountain, God informs Moses of what has taken place, telling him to go down from the mountain to his people, who have rebelled. There is an interesting back and forth that then takes place between God and Moses. God tells Moses to go down, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have become corrupt(verse 7). When Moses responds to God, he asks, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand(verse 11)? I find this to be a fascinating back and forth, as neither God nor Moses seem to be willing to accept responsibility for the people. Both God and Moses refer to the people as belonging to the other. God refers to them as Moses’ people and Moses, in turn, refers to them as God’s people. At this point in the journey, both God and Moses seem to be so frustrated with the people that neither wants to claim them!
Now, verse 24 is also fascinating, and I find it so because on more than one occasion, when I was younger, I gave some really lame excuses to cover my shortcomings and failures. Here is what happened – Aaron asks the people to bring their gold to him. He takes that gold, smelts it down, and fashions it into an idol in the shape of a golden calf. Verse 4 is very specific in saying that Aaron fashioned the goldwith a tool, which means that Aaron took some time in making this idol. When Moses confronts him about what he has done, here is what Aaron said – They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” Wow! What a miracle! I’ll be honest and say that I have come up with some really lame excuses in my day, but this is the all-time classic of lame excuses. This exceeds the dog ate my homework by at least 1,000 times; maybe 10,000 times.
Aaron lied to Moses about what had taken place. Aaron’s lie was not simply because he wanted to hide the truth from Moses; Aaron lied because he did not trust Moses. Aaron did not trust Moses because he did not trust how Moses might react. Would Moses reject his own brother? Would he harshly judge him? Would he banish him? We too are often afraid that if we are honest with others, they will reject us, turn away from us, or judge us. Now, I’m not going to say that being honest is easy and will not result in some measure of hurt. Sometimes, when we are honest, we have to speak of things that are hard to say and hard to hear. When Aaron failed to be honest, he demonstrated his lack of trust in Moses. If we want to demonstrate trust in one another, we too must be honest with one another. Doing so, obviously is not easy, but it is necessary.
When I read this passage, I cannot help but feel some measure of sympathy for Aaron. It is not easy to be in a position of leadership, especially in times of difficulty, and Aaron was placed in a position of leadership at a time of profound difficulty. Moses was on the mountain, receiving the law and the Ten Commandments from God, and Aaron was left with a large group of anxious, stressed, and restless people. The people were wondering what had happened to Moses and were beginning to wonder if he would return. Perhaps he had abandoned him, they feared. It was in their fear and anxiety that they came to Aaron. In that moment what the people needed from Aaron was a word of comfort and assurance, but he failed to provide it. In moments of difficulty, people need to be reassured by their leaders. Those leaders need to be honest and acknowledge the difficulty, but they also must offer a word of hope and call for the people to be at their best. This was a time when Aaron needed to offer the people a focused, strong, and hopeful response. Sadly, he did not. Instead, Aaron buckled under the pressure of the people to give in to their fears. Instead of saying they would continue to trust God, Aaron gave in to their demand to create their own god. The people, in their fear, did not trust God. They wanted to take control and determine their direction and destiny. They wanted to make the choices about their journey, their path, and their destination, and trusting in God would not allow them to do so. Forsaking trust, then, Aaron gave into the fears of the people and fashioned them a golden calf.
The People’s Lack of Trust.
So here is the question we generally have about creating a god – why would the people want to worship an idol of their own making? Doesn’t it seem silly to create something with your own hands and then worship the object you have created? How could anyone believe there could be divine power in something you create with your own hands? Well, let’s try and get into their heads for a moment and understand their thinking.
The people wanted Aaron to fashion them a god for a very simple reason – they wanted a god they could control and a god to whom they could dictate how that god should operate. By following a god of their own design and their own making, the people could make any decision they desired and then credit that decision to the leadership of their god. It makes things much easier to have a god whose decisions and will just happen to match your own decisions and will.
It is also important that we acknowledge this desire is one that remains alive and well today. We might not have golden calves to worship, but we have our own, modern expressions of that desire, one of which is this – God, wave your hand and end all the suffering. Wave your hand and end this virus. And to some extent, that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? I mean, if you can do that, why would you not? If you could end the suffering and the difficulties of anyone, wouldn’t you do it?
That’s the way the people were thinking in the wilderness. They were thinking, there’s got to be an easier way than what we are doing. We’re waiting around on this Moses guy, who is up on that mountain, at least as far as we know. Maybe he has abandoned us. He keeps telling us to trust God, but it seems time to take matters into our own hands, so let’s make our own god, which will be a god that will do what we want and make the decisions we want.
After the baptism of Jesus, he went into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted. Three times Satan tempted him, as Matthew’s gospel tell us – 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:1-11).
What is so alluring about those temptations is how much sense, at least on the surface, they seem to make. If you’re hungry, why wouldn’t you turn a stone into bread, if you could? If you knew God would send angels to bear you up after jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple, why not? Or, to make that comparable to our current situation, if you knew God would protect you from getting the virus, why not gather in a group of people? And if you were given authority over all the kingdoms of the world, why not? I mean, wouldn’t it be a good opportunity to fix some things, if you had all that power? After all, don’t we all, deep down, believe that if we were given the chance, we would be able to fix things? If you could capture all that power and could do what you want to fix the world, wouldn’t you do it? Imagine, you could have prevented the savings and loan disaster of the 80s, 9/11, the 2008-2009 crash, the coronavirus pandemic and so much more. You could just snap your fingers and fix it all.
That’s why the people wanted Aaron to fashion them a god out of their gold. Maybe then they would have a god who would do their bidding and run the world the way they believed it ought to be run. Well, considering what we do with the very limited powers and abilities we have, I think it’s safe to say that it’s a really good thing God doesn’t hand over his powers to us to try and fix everything.
In the gospels, we read of how people often clamored for Jesus to perform a miracle (such as in Mark 8:11-13). In doing so, they wanted to determine how God should act, but in reality, they were demonstrating a lack of trust in God. Jesus certainly performed miracles, but not on demand. Jesus determined when, how, and why he would perform miracles. To give in to the demands of the people for a miracle would have turned that miracle into nothing more than a magic show, and Jesus didn’t do magic, he didn’t put on shows, and he didn’t perform on command.
Trusting God is never easy, even in good circumstances. When circumstances deteriorate and become difficult, as we are now experiencing, trust becomes increasingly difficult. Trust becomes difficult because we cannot see the larger picture of God’s work, and the ways in which God works and how he interacts with humanity, especially in difficult times. We must resist the temptation – the temptation to take divine matters into our own hands – and in so doing attempt to take away God’s control.
There is another element in this story that I want to mention as I begin to close, and it is something that Moses says to God. Moses is, obviously, very angry at the failure of Aaron and the people. When he comes down from the mountain, and sees the people dancing around the golden calf, Moses throws down the Ten Commandments, smashing the tablets. He then takes the golden calf and burns it in the fire. Taking takes the powdered remains of the golden calf from the fire, he sprinkles them on the water, and has the people drink the water.
But then Moses does something really interesting, and really touching. Moses said to the people, you have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Moses approached God and said, oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive them their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written. I find the words of Moses in verse 32 to be amazing – if not, then blot me out of the book you have written. Moses, as frustrated and angry as he was with the people, not only begged God for their forgiveness, he even told God that if they were not forgiven, he would prefer to have his name taken out of the book God has written. Talk about a commitment to his people! Moses preferred to have himself written out of the story of God rather than his people left unforgiven. Even in the Scriptures, where we see so many strong bonds between people, seldom do we see such a powerful and beautiful bond between people.
God, in his ever-present grace, of course, forgave the people. Grace is the golden thread that runs throughout the Scriptures, offered by God at all times. In times of difficulty, grace is needed more than ever. We are not always at our best when we are in the midst of difficulty. Yes, difficulties can bring out the best in us, but can also put us at our less than best. Grace, then, ought to come from us and be offered to one another, just as it comes from God.
In times of stress and difficulty we will find ourselves faced with the decision of who we will be. Will we be the person who holds to their values or gives in to what is expedient to the moment? Will we remain calm in the face of panic or be that person at the grocery store who says forget everyone else! I’m going to get mine and everyone else is on their own, and if you get in my way, I just might knock you down!
Aaron and the people, in their moment, were not at their best. They failed to trust and that failure caused them to succumb to one of the lowest moments of their journey through the wilderness. Moses, however, trusted God, and in spite of all that happened, he trusted the people, and he bound himself to them. Isn’t that beautiful?
We will get through this. I will not say it will be easy and I will not say that it will be without pain. I wish it weren’t necessary to say that, but that’s simply being honest. While the circumstances in which we find ourselves are beyond our control, how we respond to those circumstances is not. Let us, then, with the power and grace of God upon us, trust one another and trust God.
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