Thursday, April 3rd
Martha Rayner Seals
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! Exodus 32: 7-8
In Exodus 32, we read about the Israelites making and worshipping the golden calf, breaking their covenant with the Lord. They became impatient and unfaithful to the Lord, turning to things of this world instead. Psalm 106 points us back to Exodus, describing that “they exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt” (Psalm 106: 19-20). Although the people are unfaithful, Psalm 106 both opens and concludes with Lord’s faithfulness. Even after they turned from the Lord, “for their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love” (Psalm 106: 44-45).
As we can see with the Israelites and ourselves, idolatry stems from the heart–what we long for, we make into an idol. Our world makes it so easy to create idols in our lives that consume our thoughts or actions. I pray that our idols are revealed to us so that we may instead turn towards the Lord. We so often, like the Israelites, forget all that the Lord has done for us and “exchange the glory of God” (Psalm 106: 19) for worldly things. Let us draw near to the Lord, remembering all He has done for His children. “Praise to the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 106: 1).
Other readings for the day: John 5: 30-47
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