Golden Calf - Bet they didn't know it would cost them their life!

Galatians 1:6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel"

I was in Exodus 32 this morning - Golden Calf passage. The thought slipped across my mind - Lord, how is it possible that the same group of people that You miraculously rescue from Eygpt turn so quickly from You? The ones who watched the 10 plagues that God brought about on Eypgt. The ones who obeyed the Lord when He told them to sprinkle the Passover blood over the doorposts of their houses. They saw the Lord passover them while killing thousands of Eygptians. They knew of the His power. They saw with their own eyes the pillar of fire leading them by night, and the cloud by day. Hello - they watched God split the Red Sea! - and if that wasn't enough they walked through it on dry ground! They watched the Lord drown the armies of Eygpt in an instant while they sang to the Lord "horse and rider He has thrown into the sea" (Ex 15). They ate bread that fell DAILY from Heaven and drank water that burst from a Rock! They experienced Your miraculous provision. They saw the Glory of God descend on Mount Sinai - with indescribable power - fire, smoke, lightning,and thunder... they begged Moses to go to the Lord on their behalf - they were absolutely terrified of God. In Exodus 24, Moses reads to all the people the covenant of the Lord and they all respond with a resounding - YES ... we will do all that the Lord has commanded us.

AND THEN ... out of nowhere... like a bad dream... they turn their backs on the God who had just rescued them out of Eygpt. In an instant they changed the glory of the incorruptable God for an idol that couldn't see or hear. How did this happen? Exodus 32:28 "that day 3,000 men of the people fell". I wonder if any of the 3,000 woke up that morning knowing that the decisions they would make in the next few hours would cost them their lives? These were fathers who would never again see their sons or daughters, they were husbands who would never again see their wives - their disobedience cost them everything. What about us? Do we fear God? Maybe not a golden calf - but surely something. What about everything that we bow down to in place of the One True God - Money? Status? Power? Comfort? Sinful Cravings? Cares of this Life?....etc... Do I truly fear God?

1 Corinthians 10:1-12 "For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. NEVERTHELESS, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Hebrews 3:12 "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God."

Hebrews 12:4 "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

Prone to wander Lord I feel it ... Prone to leave the God I love... here is my heart Lord take and SEAL it ... SEAL it for They courts above!