“I’d believe if I saw a sign”
Well the people had seen 10 signs, and then the parting of the Red Sea! Bread from heaven, water from the rock, and yet when Moses is meeting with the very God who rescued them and did all these signs, they struggle to believe by faith. They need to see.
Unbelief is unbelievable! When the people ask Aaron to make gods for them, they are using the very gold that the LORD had provided for them from plundering the Egyptians. As the leader of the people, Aaron should have said ‘no’ to this awful request. Tragically he agrees and tries to sanctify the sin by using religious language about their idol. God is never pleased when we invent our own ways of worshipping him, while ignoring what He says in His Word.
How sad when we use religious language and traditions and yet are far from pleasing to God. In Exodus 32, God’s people incur His judgment for worshipping Him contrary to His Word. Sin is serious. Sometimes we mistake His patience, His being “slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (34:6) for an acceptance of our sinful worship. Can you think ways that churches today may use religious language while ignoring what God says? God warns “He will by no means clear the guilty.” (34:7).
Moses offers to stand in the gap (32:32), but he can’t. God’s people have got into such a mess and God warns them He cannot go with them into the promised land as He would consume them for their sin (33:3). How can God dwell with sinful people?
Do you see our need of Jesus? Moses could not stand in the gap, for he had his own sin to pay for. Jesus was sinless, He is the only one man who can stand in the gap for all the times we fall short. His death in our place means that our sin can be taken away and God can dwell with us by His Spirit! No wonder Paul counts everything else as rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ (Philippians 3).
We don’t need more signs, we need to respond rightly to the evidence God has already given us and worship Him the way He commands us.
Sovereign Lord, you have revealed yourself to us so clearly over so many years. Please forgive you for times we doubt your word, for times we put other things before you, ignoring what you tell us. Thank you so much for our Lord Jesus, the sinless mediator. Thank you that He was able to stand in the gap for us, thank you that you can now live with us by your Spirit, and one day we will dwell with your in the true promised land of the new heaven and earth. Amen.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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