The Golden Calf

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0:00 You all get stuck with me this morning. And I'm going to try to read these notes, but it feels very dim in here to my eyes. So I'm like, pretty much best. But I'm excited. I got more and more excited than more people walked through the door. Last year there were literally like four of us. And so this actually feels more like Sunday morning. So very cool. Yeah, but we'll obviously, you know, everybody, if you don't know where it is, everybody else is at the church retreat a little ways away.

0:36 Those of us that couldn't make it. Those of us that had to stay behind the coach literally. Those of us that had to do other things. Kids to be here, Rob and woke up and drove back. Just hang out. So thank you. So we'll, I want to walk us through. I think Vans cover the same passage actually after a treat this morning. I'm going to talk some about XS32, but I also had some prayers. I want us to walk through before and after. So I'll do some of that as well as from a book called Every Moment Holy, which if you haven't seen those, there's actually three volumes of them now.

1:11 And they're kind of just liturgies that this guy wrote just and there's prayers for different situations. But some of them are really wonderful in times of difficulty and also in times of like celebration. So I pulled a few just this morning. As I was thinking about this this week and thinking about, I actually made me think about the one Demetrius preached a few weeks ago. And when you preached, it was right after the whole Israel Palestine thing had just started.

1:42 And so for some reason that was resonating my brain that like literally like you spoke like two days after it. And it is still going on and has only gotten worse. So a couple of prayers that I want to walk through are prayers that prayers for times of tragedy and suffering. And so we'll do a little bit of that. But this one that I want to start off with, I love it because it's literally called a Liturgy for the Ritual of Morning Coffee. Meet me of Christ in this stillness of morning.

2:13 Move me spirit to quiet my heart. Meet me of Father from yesterday's arms. From the discord of yesterday, resurrect my peace. From the discouragements of yesterday, resurrect my hope. From the weariness of yesterday, resurrect my strength. From the doubts of yesterday, resurrect my faith. And from the wounds of yesterday, resurrect my love. Let me enter this new day aware of my need and awake to your grace, the Lord. Amen.

2:46 Let's pray. Jesus, we echo with that edge, ask that you would, that you would be with us, that you bless our short time together this morning. And yeah, that you will bless our conversation and our reading into your words. Amen. You know, we all, we all have to start with some kind of question. If you can't hear me, I'll talk louder, so just tell me. But we all have to start with some kind of question. And it's a little relevant, it's a little sideways. But one of the things that got me thinking about this chapter, because we're going to talk about the Golden Calf.

3:20 And obviously we're talking about images and the image that Israelites wanted to create of God. But it got me remembering 20 years ago, like many of us who would do seminary at that time, 20 years ago, I was doing my services, youth pastor, for four or five years. And I remembered one of the questions I would often ask this group of Bible study guys, that I was fortunate to walk with them from when they were in sixth grade until they got to college.

3:50 And so it was really fun, like really, really fun group of kids, man. We had a lot of fun together, and we probably had some meaningful time together too. But one of the things I would often ask them at different periods was, we would end up talking about what they saw, even in their mind's eye, their image of God was. And it was a fascinating thing to ask them over time. And I specifically remember a couple kids, but one kid always stood out to me.

4:21 And I mean, I probably asked him this question in eighth grade, in like tenth grade, in probably like twelfth grade or as a freshman in college. And I was just like, so what do you picture God as? Like right now. So you just think about it like, you know, for yourself, like, what do you picture God as? And if you want to get really creative, you can think man, as a 14 or 15 year old, what did you picture God as? And it always struck me that his name was Alex, and his image was always God, was like an old man.

4:55 And every time I ask him that question in my memory, at least every time I ask him that question, God had a look of disapproval on his face. It was always like so striking to me. And then it also made me realize that I probably experienced something similar. You know, that when I would picture God, it was rarely God, you know, with the look of pleasure on his face, you know, pleased with me. It always seemed like it was, you know, this image of God, of God just disappointed in me, which was interesting.

5:28 So I don't know what comes up for you, probably not the image of a golden calf when you think of God. But it's always an interesting question, because I think that is somewhat indicative of the ways in which we're relating to God. There was a book that probably about a time I was in a seminary that went around. I don't know if you ever saw it in the future, it was, I don't know the name of it, but it was this guy who basically wrote about St. Freud's, yes, Lewis, takes on God and compared it and compared like their kind of views on life and people of God.

6:01 And one of the things that always struck out to me in it, because St. Freud was famous for talking about that man has created God in his image. His take on it was that we, as people, through our own necessity for things like comfort and what we long for and to make sense of, you know, evil and pain in the world that we had created this image of God, based out of our own image. And it was really interesting because there are some people that said that C.S. Lewis actually like kind of agreed.

6:31 And I want to say the quote, I didn't look it up, but it rang in my mind this morning, that the quote was that God created man in his image and then we likewise returned the favor. And I always stuck with me, that God created man in his image and then we likewise returned the favor. And it just, that was some of the stuff that's resonated in me in this chapter as we were going to walk through it. So if you want to read along, Exodus 32, and we can get into it a little bit here.

7:07 I think we'll spend some time and prayer after. Now, at this point, just for a little bit of context, like, it was related to Ben in the desert for a long period of time, God rescued them out of Egypt, God led them out of Egypt. It is really helpful for us to remember God led them out of Egypt in a really dramatic way. God led them out of Egypt in a very clear, very dramatic way. At this point, the Israelites have seen God come down and pullers of fire and smoke.

7:39 They've seen the clouds on the mountain. They have been very aware of God's presence, like Ben 3 Shavad a few weeks ago. They have been very aware of not only God's presence, but also his provision. We talked about the manna and the quail and God providing in the midst of miraculous. I like how Ben, I forget his exact words, but I liked how you were talking about it. It's like this miraculous thing that happens in everyday manners. When we can look at God, man, it is a beautiful, miraculous thing that God provided food for the Israelites.

8:12 He did it in this way that was completely like Sivadah with the way nature worked if you study wildlife at that time. It's really cool, but helpful to remember, they have seen God, they have seen his presence, they have seen his provision, they have seen him deliver. At this point, previous chapters, God called Moses up to the mountain and where God's delivering the next level of the love. That's my words, but God's delivering the next level of the love.

8:45 God has already communicated some laws to Moses that Moses has communicated to the people. They don't have all of it, but they have some of it. At this point, Moses is up on the mountain. We know from the previous chapter, Moses ends up on the mountain for 40 days, and he's up there for a while. Now, in chapter 32, this is what he sees. When the people saw that Moses was so long, I'm just going to read through it and then we'll come back and look at it and walk through it all slowly.

9:16 When the people saw that Moses was so long and coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come, make us God's who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses to growd stuff at a vg, we don't even know what is happening to him. So Aaron answered them, take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off the earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning with the tool. Then the people said, these are your God's Israel who brought you up out of Egypt.

9:51 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulgent revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, go down because your people who be brought up out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it and have said, these are your God's Israel who brought you up out of Egypt.

10:24 I have seen these people, the Lord said to Moses, and they are a stiff neck people. Now leave me alone so my anger may burn against them and I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. The Moses is not the favor of the Lord as God. Lord, why should your anger burn against your people who you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say it was an evil intent that you brought them out to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from your anger and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel to whom you swore by your own self.

10:56 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them. Then it will be their inheritance forever. Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people who disaster he had threatened him. Moses turned, went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides front and back. The tablets were the work of God. The writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise in the people shouting he said to Moses, there is the sound of the war in the camp.

11:29 Moses replied, it is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat, it is the sound of singing that I hear. When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf of the dancing his anger burned he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that people had made, burned it in the fire, grounded to power, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, what did these people do to you that you led them into such great sin? Do not be angry, my Lord, Aaron answered. You know how prone these people are to evil.

11:59 They said to me, make us gods who will go before us. As for the still and Moses who brought us stuff by the Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him. So I told him, whoever has any gold jewelry take it off, they gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf. Moses saw that the people were running wild and Aaron had let them get out of control and became a laughing stock to their enemies. He stood in the entrance of the camp and said whoever is for the Lord come to me and all the Vites rallied to him.

12:29 We'll stop there. There's so much in this chapter. If you keep reading, you see God actually does bring punishment on the people. Some play out much longer going forward. There's so much good stuff in this. Let's walk through it for a second. I always like to read the whole chapter and think of it as a way my brain works. If I agree to just a piece about the whole thing, my brain starts bouncing around.

13:03 It bounces around enough as it is. Go back to the beginning. Look at the first one. Moses has been gone. He's been gone for 40 days, 40 nights at some point. We don't know what point the grumbling started. We don't know. Nothing in this chapter says, hey, what? On the 30th night of the day, the people got pissed off and started making plans. We don't hear it that way.

13:33 It says most of the time, we know that it says the previous chapters get motions at the end of 40 days, 40 nights. But at some point, the people begin to grumble. Ultimately, the best way we can view this is not that the people are going to get a little bit more than they are. The best way we can view this is not that the people were just mad. When you look at God's response, we've got actually punishes and has Levites kill a significant number of them.

14:06 This is actually better understood as like full rebellion. This is actually better understood as not just, oh, we made a golden cap because we thought it would look cool, that this actually seems to be somewhat a culmination of a significant portion of the people actually, when I say grumbling, moving against Moses and what God has called them to do. Because at this point, they know Moses is still on the mountain. You can almost see in the language, this guy Moses, who even know this guy is?

14:41 Well, this guy is the guy that, if you read in the previous chapters, if you go back and read them, there's tons of places where it says that the people trusted Moses and the people trusted the word of the Lord. Moses is actually the guy who led them through the Red Sea and led them out of Egypt. It's really interesting to me that the way that they begin talking about it is they begin to say, as for this guy Moses, we don't even know if he's alive, we don't even know where he is. Who the heck is he anyway?

15:11 So they automatically begin to kind of undermine everything that has been happening since God brought them out of Egypt. Now, what do they ask? They gather on Aaron and they say, come and make us God's who will go before us. And Aaron answers them, take off the gold, bring it to me, so they all bring it to him. Aaron takes it and he shapes it into an idol cast, the shape of a calf. Some people believe that the idol was actually probably made of wood and just overlaid with gold, which is why Moses was able to burn it up in the fire and grind it into ashes.

15:47 And that would have probably been more fitting as to what they were capable of and what they would be able to do with gold earrings. So he takes it and he fashions it into the shape of a calf. And then this is interesting. He says, then they said, these are your gods Israel who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar for the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. And then they actually say that people rose and offered burn offerings.

16:17 Right? So what do we see in that? A couple of things. One, this is where we start to see Aaron get real shady, which is really interesting because Aaron has kind of been like the right hand of Moses, but the people start when I'm like, so who knows what Aaron's thinking right then? Who knows what he's doing? Like maybe he's scared. They're going to kill him. Maybe he's scared. They're going to ruin everything while Moses is gone. It's conceivable that some people would think that Aaron's kind of going, okay, if I can just keep these people cool until Moses gets back, he'll handle this.

16:49 So maybe I can kind of just give him just enough to make it seem like everything's okay. Maybe I can placate them just long enough. And then when Moses comes back down, he'll come tell him whatever God said and everything will kind of be right. And we see that where Aaron says tomorrow there will be an oasis that tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. Here's the thing though. That's not what the people ask for. The people ask to make gods. And if you read it, it actually speaks to a pantheon of gods. It doesn't speak to, hey, let's make an image of God.

17:26 The people ask for let's make gods that will go before us, which is ultimately a bastardization of what we see in previous chapters because everything that we see, especially the whole Exodus period, is this phrase, the Lord goes before us. God goes before us. So the Israelites are starting to say, hey, wait a second, can you make us make us some gods that then can go before us and lead us the rest of the way?

18:01 Aaron kind of tries to do, you need to shift that a little bit and go, okay, well, the festival is the Lord. The people kind of completely disregard that and we see that in Moses words, we see that in God's words where God says, yeah, they sacrifice this calf, they sacrifice all this stuff. They're like, these are the gods that led us out of Egypt. These are the gods that are going to take us to the future. And so in essence, we'll come back for this in a few minutes, but they're actually rewriting history, which is really interesting. So Aaron kind of tries to play both sides. And the other thing about the calf is, and I think, this is an idea I thought of, like,

18:36 whenever I think you hear Demetrius and I speak, there's probably some similarity because we sat under the same people. So when I was reading about that, thinking about that, the symbology of the bull and the calf was actually a really popular God and a symbol for God in gods in the whole ancient near East at the time. So what the people come for and what Aaron gives them is not this like wild, weird, random thing.

19:07 He gives them something that they all would recognize. He gives them something that they all would be familiar with. Right? Now, what's interesting is, he gives it to them and stuff that they'd be familiar with. Why would they be familiar with it? Well, they would be familiar with it because all the other nations around them would be doing things similar. Like, it wasn't a random thing where they just decided to fashion this idol in the shape of an animal, specifically a calf.

19:41 It would be something that would fit right in line with all the other nations in the whole ancient near East at the time. Right? So, they go on through there. But obviously, you know, God gets super pissed off. And God calls out what they're doing. And you see God respond after when the people get up, says the next day they rose early, sacrifice, burn offerings, fellowship offerings, afterwards they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

20:16 And there was a previous chapter, there was a chapter 20, where another period where God had spoke to Moses and Moses gave a lot of the people. And Scripture says that the people that trusted Moses and the people listened to the Word of the Lord, and they all sat and ate together. So, there's this theme in this chapter. If you're not seeing it, yeah, there's a theme in this chapter where the people, it's like they're doing the same thing completely opposite.

20:46 We're going from saying, hey, God, let us out of Egypt. We're going to say no, but these are the gods that let us out of Egypt. And we're going to sit and we're going to drink and we're going to have a feast. But instead of it being, we're going to sit and drink and have the Holy Feast that God instituted previous chapters. We're going to sit and feast and get nuts in what it, you know, speaks to is a whole kind of implied level of immorality. So they're basically taking like these patterns that God had kind of instituted and shifting them to meet their own wants in the moment.

21:22 Make sense? And we'll draw some of this together in a second, but I really like walking through this stuff. You know, and there's a cool, it's a cool, you know, passage. Like when we see this period in the middle of chapter where God is obviously, you know, angry and what does Moses do? Moses actually does what he's been doing, which is really interesting because Moses' whole role, like starting the right to know that God gave him in Egypt, was it Moses was to intercede for the people. Right?

21:52 And Moses' role was to intercede for the people, guide the people. There's a protective aspect to that role. There's a leadership aspect to that role. There's an interceding between God and the people role. And I kind of find it cool because Moses doesn't always do everything perfectly at all. But in this chapter when God's angry at the people, I think I connected with kind of, you know, a little bit where I probably, I couldn't see it. I think Moses has obviously been through all of this difficulty leading the people out.

22:25 Being given this burden by the Lord to go do this, that he didn't want in many ways. And he leads the people out of Egypt, does all this stuff. And then he goes up on the mountain where God called him to go. So he's up on the mountain. God's like, hey, come up here. I'm going to give you a walk. And he's up there for a long time doing everything. And then at the end of it, he hasn't even been back down. And God's like, oh yeah, you're people down there. They stink. They're completely blowing in. So why don't we just give it up. And you know what? I'll just build the kingdom out of your descendants.

22:55 And what's really cool is actually like the Godly character of Moses. Moses is like, I don't know. Like, almost like, no, no, like, you promised that we would build it through basically what it means where he says, you know, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, like, you promised to build it through all of us. Because technically Moses was a descendant there as well, right? But Moses intercedes and still intercedes and stands for the people, even when they're completely blown in it. But then what happens? Moses comes down and as he gets down, realizes what's happening, gets angry,

23:31 which is also funny to me because one of the first things we learn about Moses in Egypt is that he has an anger issue. So in all these years of refinement in the desert, Moses still apparently has an anger issue. In Egypt, early on, Moses got pissed off, killed in Egyptian. That was literally what he was accused of. What are you going to get angry and kill all of us back in when they were still in Egypt? Moses comes down carrying the tablets that God gave in these tablets. God wrote on these tablets.

24:03 Like, however God did that, God created these. He's handed him Moses. Moses breaks him down, walks in, people are going nuts. He sees that it's complete, like, what it applies to is the kind of errand is completely lost control of people. That it's lawlessness and rebellion, basically. So Moses gets pissed, tosses the tablets and smashes them. This is why you can't have nice things. But, I mean, God just gave you those and you just smashed them. Two chapters later, God graciously gives them back and makes them new ones.

24:35 Which is always one of those interesting stories to me. You know, I'm like, you give Moses the Tim Commandments on these tablets at the culmination of 40 days in God's presence in the mountain. And Moses promptly breaks them. I mean, they'll be like, if, if Dylan got the iPad that he wanted for Christmas and then promptly smashed it the next day, he probably would not give you iPad the next day. But God's kind of the name. So, we'll see.

25:06 But, true to, like, the story of Scripture, there's so much symbolized in that. Right? All of it exists in the covenant that God is making with His people. You know, which is like, actually what we heard about a few weeks ago. Like, this covenant that God has made with His people and actually the Tim Commandments were not just the law, they're actually actually the giving of them symbolizes the covenant. Symbolizes, hey, here's how I want you to live.

25:37 And within a very short period of time, Moses smashes them. The guy who's supposed to communicate them actually smashes them. Which gives us like this very visual image of the broken covenant. And then what's really cool is, only two chapters later, God's like, hey, okay, I'm going to have a new one. Okay, I'm going to renew it again. Which is like the pattern through all of Scripture. Like, I'm going to make a covenant with you and we're like, cool, we'll break it. And God's like, hey, okay, I'll renew it. Right?

26:07 Which is a whole, that's like a whole man. Like, that's a whole big bench. You should talk about that for five hours. God renews the covenant and we don't renew the covenant. Because it's always God who renews the covenant, not us. Right? So, as they walk through it, Moses obviously, he comes to them and burns up the calf. And there's even symbolism and he makes them, I was always curious as to like, he grinds it up and puts it in the water. And he makes them frequent.

26:39 Right? But there's an element where what it seems to, in that culture, what it seems to communicate is like you're going to bear the weight of the decision that you made. Like, you're going to bear the weight of these decisions that you've made and the effects that they're going to have. So, ultimately, what we see is that God finds a way to renew the covenant, not with everyone.

27:11 Which is one thing I'd add to it, it's important for us to recognize that in this chapter, like, it's not just about the, the build a calf, like, it seems like there was kind of open rebellion and a lot of these decisions that you've made and the effects that they're going to have. So, ultimately, what we see is that God finds a way to renew the covenant, not with everyone. Which is one thing I'd add to it, it's important for us to recognize that in this chapter, like, it's not just about, they built a calf. Like, it seems like there was kind of open rebellion against the plan of God and against the presence of God and also against the provision of God. But for today, the things that I'd love to spend a few minutes, kind of just seeing in that, right, is it is fascinating.

27:43 And I think anybody, anytime anybody, you know, looks at that chapter where Moses goes up and, you know, whether he was up there two days before they started, you know, making plans, or whether he was up there 39 days before he started making plans. You think about, wait a second, like, God has done all of this. And the Israelites come to Aaron and convince him he does not seem to take much convincing. They convince him to make them an idol.

28:14 So, a couple things. I'll show you there are a couple thoughts that I think are helpful for all of us as we think about that. They come and make the idol. Like we said, the idol was not some random thing. He was made the shape of a calf, right, which was something that all the other nations and the ancient Near East, that would be very similar to their gods. Right? So, what does that tell us? Well, that tells us that in the midst of, you know, wherever Israel was at, physically in the desert,

28:52 and then we think, like, mentally and emotionally, what I mean by that is, like, where they thought where they saw themselves at in the journey. Right? Where they saw themselves at in this period where God had brought them out, delivered them from Egypt, that was bringing them out through the desert, towards a place that God had promised. That somewhere along the line, those who rebelled felt like they needed something different. Right? They felt like they needed something different. And what did they go for?

29:25 They felt like they needed something different, and they went for what it looked like the people around the had. That they went for what it looked like the nations around them had. And ultimately, what we're talking about, I think, in this passage, at least for me, is I look at it and I'm like, okay, what we're talking about, are the things we do when we begin to question God's provision for us, we begin to question God's presence with us.

30:00 Or maybe we begin to question whether we actually want to stay on this road. We begin to question whether or not this road is actually going to end well, or whether or not God's taking us somewhere good. And when that's the case, then we begin to go, okay, wait a second, maybe there's a different way. Maybe there's a better way. And so, a couple words come to mind for me, is the Israel decided they wanted to look like everybody else. So instead of following the Lord, they felt like they needed to follow what it looked like the nations around them would follow.

30:36 What's so interesting about that is the identity of Israel was what? The identity of Israel was always that they were set apart, right? That they were supposed to be different. Now that they were supposed to be kept separate, but that they were actually supposed to be set apart to be identifiably different, to actually present the image of God to the world that did not have the image of God, which is then that's the juxtaposition of the gods in the ancient Near East, were often gods that were represented in animals. And how our God was different is he actually said, well, no, you are the representation of God.

31:11 So you don't need a golden calf and a idol. It's actually you are the representation of the image of God. That is how I'm going to spread my image throughout the world, right? But Israel was supposed to be set apart and it was supposed to be different. And when things get difficult, the people start to go, wait a second. This is hard. We kind of want to be more like everybody else. A couple other things they did. They also seem to want something now.

31:47 Moses was gone 40 days. We don't know if they started to get there. I mean, to save consumption, they were already set apart. Moses even went up on the mountain, right? But they wanted a symbol of hope in some ways, right? They wanted a symbol of protection. They wanted a symbol of identity. And they wanted it now. Now God had already given them a ton of things that identified them as a community. He identified them as a culture, identified them as a people. He had already given them a ton of direction and how to live.

32:19 But somehow they wanted a way that looked much more like the nations around them. They wanted something right now and they wanted something tangible. That they could see. That they could act on. Right? So what did that mean? They didn't want. One, they seemed like they no longer wanted to wait. They no longer wanted to wait.

32:52 Ultimately they had no indication. You got it delivered, got it delivered, got it delivered. There was no indication that Moses was not going to come down. There was no indication that God was going to stop. I mean, it was obviously the Moses was still on the mountain. God was still there. God was still present. But they no longer wanted to wait. And ultimately, I think it's safe for all of us to say one of, if not the hardest things about waiting is that waiting requires this really difficult, incredible amount of trust.

33:29 Because I'm going to wait. I'm trusting that God's in control. And I'm going to wait. I'm trusting that God's in control. I'm also trusting that God's good. And so I'm trusting in the things that we've already said. God gave us presence and God provided it. Finally, if I'm choosing to wait, I'm trusting that God is still going to do both of those things. What Israel likes to do when they made a goal in calf is that they say we don't need to wait for God's presence. We can create God's presence.

34:01 We don't have to wait for God's presence. We can create God's presence. We can create our own provision. If we can do it now, it can be real. It can be that we can touch it right here. But we can control what we do. One of the things I've realized as a therapist over the years is just like theme. You know, you always talk about like control and stuff like that. And the things we do to feel and control as people and the ways that we cope in life when things feel out of control.

34:36 But one of the things I see over and over and I've seen for decades and some of you all have probably heard me say is that there's just this thing that's true about us as people and that when things feel out of control, we will tend to hyper focus or create things that we can control. When things are out of control, we will create ways and things that we can do where we feel like we are in control. And so I can't help but see this in this passage. I don't like man. Okay, there's your lights.

35:06 Maybe they don't like where they're at. Maybe they don't like where God's taking them. Maybe they're scared for God's God's God. Not actually taking them anywhere good. I don't know. But what they did was they said, you know what's better than waiting and trusting that God is good. What's better is that we create our God. Because if I create, if we create our own God's, ultimately we are in control of our own faith. Ultimately, I'm in control of my own destiny or so would be.

35:37 I think that's a huge part of what the whole goal capital is about. There's a million other ways to look at it and a million other elements to it, right? But in the midst of the difficulty of waiting and trusting the Lord, Israel decided to create their own God's. I mentioned this earlier. One of the things that happens there as they did this, and this is huge, is really important, is they actually rewrote the history.

36:08 They created some revisionist history there. It's not a coincidence that through so much of Scripture here, we talk about the Lord delivered them out of Egypt. That is one of the pivotal phrases in all of Scripture is that the Lord delivered them out of Egypt. That is the history of God led them out. At the beginning of chapter 32, what do they say? They make a cap and they're like, here are our gods. Defining it just like all the other nations did. They no longer set apart. Here are our gods.

36:38 These are the gods that led us out of Egypt. They revised history where God was not a part of it. I'd suggest one reason why we tend to do that is because then we get to walk into the future where we then get to act as God. If I go, you know what? God didn't lead us out of Egypt. You know what we did? We kind of did.

37:12 We pulled it together and we made it happen. We got it done. Then I can kind of tell myself that I'm going to do that in the future. I think the Israelites were giving themselves license to now go do what they wanted to get what they wanted when they wanted. Another way to say it is they wanted to write their own redemption story without needing God to remain. I hope that makes sense. I think that's a huge thing because it's not just, oh man, in times of trial, they didn't trust God.

37:47 There's an ask of implications for us in that. I'm going, man, in times of trial, we begin to go, okay, well, what's actually going to save us? What do we trust in? What do we lean on? It's tempting to make things that will give us comfort in the moment that seems to offer the freedom of not having to trust that God is going to come through and God is going to provide. When we do that, we kind of tend to begin to fashion God in an image that is more like us that is ultimately like him.

38:21 Makes sense. Let's pray. And then, yeah, let me pray for a second. And then we'll talk to you a couple of these prayers. Lord, thank you for just letting us see the kind of truth from your word, but also the ways in which it can illuminate our hearts and the ways that we do not trust you. And the ways that we fashion our versions of you that do not do you justice, that do not tell the truth about the stories of how you delivered us and ways in which we can trust you in the future.

39:04 So, help us to remember the truth of who you are, what you've done, where you've been, where you will be, and where you will take us to your brain. Anybody have any thoughts? Sound group? I have it there and there. I have it there and there and there. I had an air get off the hook, air always gets off the hook.

39:35 There's an element where air seems to continually get off the hook, right? Oh, yeah, that's the best part. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. There's a plane that you might come in to make sure that you're in the hospital well at that time when you're telling Moses the story to talk out and Moses is the place that you expected to believe in that.

40:09 And you're saying, you know, I believe you're talking about the burning bush, which I love. It does seem like God has not been to his or his chosen to leave you in the wrong. Well, nothing you need a wrong, but that like her that people mean, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Aaron's funny though, because if there is an element where it feels like in that whole thing, like, it's supposed to be the mouthpiece and the spokesperson for God.

40:44 Aaron does kind of like right off the bat, like he just tries to like almost like avoid conflict the whole time. You know, like he tries to appease the Israelites, but still say it's a festival to the Lord. Like he doesn't say, hey, cool. He's like, no, no, no, we'll call it a festival Lord. I know. And then he goes, it comes down. He's like, oh, it just popped out like you know, like, so it's almost like he just kind of avoids like all like responsibilities.

41:19 Yeah. It's a really dark section. It's about the never given vision. Reliance. You can start building papers for others. Yeah. There's no indication that God called Moses to do that. Are we supposed to believe in that economic structure? I know.

41:50 Or the life-stacking Iraq, or the order of the thoughts? Um, and I just do, in my opinion, my opinion is that that exists in the context of rebellion. That that existed, that happened because in the rest of the chapter, those are the strikes that lead rights to go through and they end up killing. It's around 3000. But it doesn't seem like it was just, oh, we built, we made a calf and now Moses is back and it's all good. It seems like it was more rebellion.

42:22 So if it was active, to me, that's where that would make sense. Is that it's active like faction within Israel working against Israel and against God, then that would have been. That probably makes sense. More like a party. It would be a good value. I don't know if I'd go that far, but, um, like, it seems like, people have to, it will, from what?

42:58 From a little iPad on it, there are different opinions as to like what that would constitute, right? But if it's active rebellion, then active rebellion would possibly imply that that was already like, that it wasn't just a purge, that it was actually like battle. Does that make sense? Those people were actually active in the against. But, I don't know.

43:29 He picked a great calf and turned. I didn't pick it, man. I didn't pick it. I don't think Ben's ever going to let you go on their treat. He doesn't even ask me to go. He's like, here, talk about this. Cool. Any other thoughts? I appreciate y'all let me share the, um, can we do a couple of these prayers? Then, call it.

44:04 We do a couple for, um, and just thinking about, as we think about the, obviously, like, in the presence of tragedy and suffering. I think collectively we can spend a few minutes with this. This one is for a momentary liturgy, a week of tragedy. Lord, let we your children be those who would respond to unspeakable events by immediately seeking your face and petitioning your mercies, offering relief, rendering aid, practicing hospitality and love of neighbor, working for justice, for peace, for reconciliation, and for the greater flourishing of our communities and our world.

44:48 This was longer, but I'd like us to do it, so just join me in it. This is a liturgy for a time of widespread suffering. Christ our King, our world is overtaken by unexpected calamity, by a host of fears, worries, and insecurities. We see suffering, confusion, and hardship multiplied around us, and we find ourselves swept up in anxieties and troubles dismayed by uncertainty.

45:19 Now we turn to you, God, in the season of our common distress. Be merciful, O Christ, to those who suffer, to those who worry, to those who grieve, to those who are threatened, they're harmed. Let your holy compassion be active throughout the world even now, technically afflicted, comforting the brokenhearted, and bringing hope to many who are hopeless. Use even these hardships to lure our hearts near to you, O God. Indeed, Father, may these days and this quiet become a catalyst for conviction and repentance, for tendering our affections, for stirring our sympathies, and the refining of our love.

45:54 We are your people who are called by you, and we need not be troubled or alone. Indeed, O Lord, let us love now more fearlessly, remembering that you created us and appointed us to live in these very places, in the midst of these unsettled times. It is no surprise to you that we are here now, sharing in turmoil with the rest of society, for you have called your children to live a salt and light on nations, praying, laboring for the flourishing of the communities where we dwell, acting as agents of forgiveness, salvation, healing, reconciliation, and hope, in the very very midst of an often troubled world.

46:27 In these holy vocations, you have not left us helpless, Lord, because you have not left us at all. Your spirit remains among us. And have it now your church, Spirit that is in Christ, unite and equip your people for the work before them. Father, empower your children to live as your children. In times of distress, let us respond. Not as those who would instinctively even trench for our own self-preservation, but rather as those who in imitation of their Lord would move and humble obedience towards the needs of their children. And the needs and hurts of our neighborhoods and our community.

47:01 You are not ashamed to share in our sufferings, Jesus. So let us now be willing to share in Yours, serving as Your visible witness in a broken world. Hear these words, children of God, and be greatly encouraged. The Lord's throne in heaven is yet occupied. His rule is eternal. His good purposes on earth will be forever accomplished. We are the King of the ages of Christ, and our heavenly hope is secure. In this time of suffering, let us rest afresh and pass in peace of that vision that your whole church on earth might be liberated to love more generously and sacrificially.

47:35 Now labor in and through us, O Lord, extending and multiplying the many expressions of your mercy. Amen. Amen. Let's end with this. O Jesus who leads us in the shadow of the sorrow, and Jesus who leads us into light and bright delight, as I walk through the valley of thickening twilight for a death star type, let this be the sum and substance of my hope, my peace, and my rest.

48:15 You are always with me. I am not alone. You will never leave me. I will never be alone. Amen.