LIFE SCRIPTS

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, 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.” 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 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.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 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. 7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “ Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Exodus 32:1‭-‬14 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.32.1-14.NIV.

As Moses tarried in the Lord’s presence at the top of the mountain, things were happening at the foot of the mountain. As the Lord was speaking oracles to Him, the people were ganging up against Aaron to force him to make a golden calf to worship. Just as Moses, we might spend time in God’s presence enjoying all the good things that go with it…fellowship, encouragement, worship…but sooner rather than later, time will come when we descend from the mountain into the real world where strange things still continue to happen. Aaron, being the one Moses left in charge was under siege. A people who had seen God’s mighty hand all along since they came from Egypt seemed to wallow in confusion. This same God Who did great things for them was suddenly silent. His messenger also seemed lost and nowhere to be found. Deep within them, they desired leadership…direction…encouragement that God is still at work even without their knowledge. This was Aaron’s moment to rise up to leadership. But unfortunately, he squandered it. He fell into the same pit of despair as the mob. So they pressed and pushed him against the wall until he succumbed to a call that outrightly disobeyed God. A golden calf. A false deity that would fill the empty hole the people felt. Such are the moments when we are faced with adversity…when it feels as if God is distant. We might not craft physical images of gold and silver because social media and the internet make image making an easier job compared to the work Aaron and Co. had. These are things that fill in the void left by the yearning we have for a God Who doesn’t show up the way we expect. So great were God’s plans for Israel that it took Moses a long time up on the mountain. But little did they know that in the midst of this silence, God was still at work. In moments when we feel God is silent, He still is at work.