I have been spending time digging through Rob Bell's book "Love Wins" and as I've begun to share some of my thoughts with others I am finding that people are very unsettled when they hear anything about God that is not soft, coddling, accepting, peaceful, or "tolerant". The funny thing is that they don't become angry with God but with me. That's cool. I tend to "shoot the messenger" at times as well. So if you are one of those people who only like to hear the easy messages, the comforting messages, or the ones that don't make you uneasy please stick with me for a moment because I think this might give you some fresh insight into the true character of God, of leaders, and of followers (i.e. sheep). By the way, the hard parts of the Bible make me uneasy as well but they've also helped me to appreciate much more the love and grace of God.
In the later chapters of Exodus God called Moses up the mountain to give him the Law. He called only Moses into the cloud that covered the top of the mountain and left Aaron in charge of the Israelites. Remember that the Israelites had recently witnessed God's wrath against the Egyptians in the form of plagues (blood, frogs, gnats, flies, dead livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and finally the taking of the Egyptian's first born sons). Uncomfortable yet? They saw God part the Red Sea and manna come from heaven. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and nights and during that time the people (the sheep) became uneasy. 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.” So we would expect the leader to say something like this, "Hold on folks! Don't you remember the awesome works of our God? Have you so quickly forgotten how he rescued you from captivity and provided for your needs in the empty desert? Hold fast!! Our God is the only God who can save!" But instead the Bible tells us that Aaron (the shepherd in charge) responded to the people like this:
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 their 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 it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
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 indulge in revelry.
Here is the revelation: It is the responsibility of the shepherd to lead the sheep where they need to go not where they want to go. Sheep like to be comfortable. They won't easily walk dangerous trails unless the shepherd is using his staff to prod them along. Some of the journey is beside still waters and other times it take us into the storm. The people were uneasy. They cried out for Aaron to make them a god of their own liking, one that had no power, one that had no wrath, but at the same time, one that had no love. It was a useless god. Aaron listened not to the truth of God but the to will of the people and in doing so made a false God. He gave them nothing. God was angered. The people were guilty. The calf couldn't feed them, protect them, forgive them, or love them. Sure, it was shiny and attractive but it was not really God at all.
The question for us is this, "Do we want the one true God in all of his glory (love, holiness, justice, wrath against sin) or do we want to fashion one to our liking and to our comfort level? In reality, the only God that really fits with the Gospel story of a Jesus who had do die on the cross for the sins of the people, is a God who loves but has a righteous wrath against sin. Stay tuned.. more to come.
Peace,
David
