Nougat 10

Are there folks who are always late? How do you deal with their idiosyncrasy? Getting angry with them isn’t very helpful – it might be easier to compensate for their lateness as we plan. This may not be ideal, but short of walking away from the relationship …

Impatience with God and God’s timing is not a new phenomenon or temptation. In Today’s Holy Nougat, we see a deadly consequence.

“When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭32‬:‭1‬, ‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Weighty Waiting

Yesterday we started reflecting on idolatry and its root causes, and I referenced this nougat. In laying the foundation, mention was made of our timelines that we impose on God. Our Nougat indicates that the impatience was extended to Moses, the human leader, who was (happily) interacting with God on the mountain. Having very limited depth in their relationship with God for themselves, even Aaron was tempted to find alternatives.

In the Children of Israel’s defense, the journey was absolutely unknown, God was an unknown entity, the Wilderness was fraught with danger and it had been a while since they’d seen Moses and Joshua. Exodus 24 tells us that God desired a meeting; firstly with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the Seventy Elders(see verses 1 and 9). This was not the intimate meeting, but it should have been enough to reveal God’s glory to the leaders. The Children of Israel were not present with them. After that meeting, God called Moses into God’s Presence, upon the mountain top.

That meeting took forty-six days!

Yes, Moses went up to the mountain top to see and seek God’s face, and waited for six days while God’s glory shone on Mt Sinai before being ushered into God’s presence (see verses 15-16). From the seventh day when he entered God’s Presence on the mountain top, Moses remained for forty days and forty nights (see verse 18). And although the other leaders were left with the Children of Israel, their spiritual leader was gone for an unknown period.

Some eight chapters later, after we get a glimpse of the nature of Moses’ time with God, we find that the Children of Israel are restless. Forty days had passed since Moses and Joshua left them with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the Seventy elders. They were in a rut!

Disgruntled with waiting, they took matters into their own hands. They demanded a god like those their former masters worshipped in Egypt. They were out of Egypt, but Egypt was still ingrained in their psyche! Was it that Moses’ forty years with his father in law Jethro made him different from the others?

Perhaps, but what about Joshua, the deputy, who was content to wait just outside the clouds? I believe it was personal conviction!

God’s timing is outstanding. We don’t know how long we have to wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises, and the journey might be just as treacherous as the Children of Israel’s Wilderness Wandering. Our spiritual leader has been ensconced in God’s Presence in excess of one thousand nine hundred(1,900) years (if we calculate from His death and resurrection, that is). And God has left other leaders to guide us through difficulties.

But let’s not mistake these leaders for God. In spite of the weighty wait for God’s intervention in our urgent situation, we cannot afford to be seduced by the idea of trying to replace the Almighty God! God is not human to be mocked, and the commandment given to the Children of Israel in Exodus 20:2-3 is clear, ‘I AM the Lord your God Who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You shall have no other god but me!’ No Other is no other.

In fact, verse 4-5 of Exodus 20 continues with the direct command to avoid making graven images (idols) or bowing down or worshiping them. That command even includes prophecy of long-term generational sin. It was applicable in the Wilderness and is equally applicable for our now. We cannot allow the weight of waiting for God’s intervention to lead us astray. No idol can actually satisfy.

Self check – what does it cost to wait on God’s timing a little bit more?

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May all we seek be found in Christ