Tag: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Exodus 32:33-35

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“The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.’ And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the most incredible aspects of God’s character is that He is a perfect combination of justice and mercy. This mixture is not 50-50 like one we might make. Instead, it’s 100-100. He’s 100% just and 100% merciful. He’s all of both at exactly the same time. We can trust that He will always do the right thing, but He will always do the right thing in the most merciful way possible. We trust that in part because of passages like this one. Let’s talk about what’s going on here.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 32:30-32

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“The following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.’ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves. Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When I was growing up, one of my sister’s friends lived in the single most confusing neighborhood in the world. Once you drove in, if you didn’t know where you were going, the odds were high that you were going to wind up lost. There was basically one way in without going to the opposite side of town, but once you got in there were about a thousand turns available to you. If you took a wrong turn along the way, it felt like the only way to get out was to retrace your steps turn-by-turn, going the exact opposite direction as you were going before. This idea of going back the way you came in life has a name. It’s called repentance, and that’s what we see happening here as we near the end of this tragically hilarious chapter.

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Morning Musing: Colossians 3:12-13

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“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been stuck? There are all kinds of ways to be stuck. We can be stuck in traffic. We can be stuck on a math problem. We can be stuck on a vehicle repair. We can be stuck on a writing assignment. We can be stuck on a word puzzle. Being stuck isn’t much fun, especially when we can’t immediately see how to get ourselves unstuck. As frustrating as all of those different forms of being stuck can be, there’s another that can be even harder to experience. We can be relationally stuck. Getting stuck in the context of a relationship can feel like it puts our entire life on hold. Even being relationally stuck, though, can come from a number of different sources such that getting unstuck can feel almost impossible. Today, let’s talk about a way to help us move forward when we’re relationally stuck that works in almost every situation.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 32:21-24

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“Then Moses asked Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?’ ‘Don’t be enraged, my Lord,’ Aaron replied. ‘You yourself knew that the people are intent on evil. They said to me, “Make God’s for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt – we don’t know what has happened to him!” So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off,” and they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I once got grounded from watching TV for a week. I was in grade school, and I don’t have any recollection of what I had done to be in trouble. On the Saturday morning of that week, though, I was up early and found myself alone in our den…where the TV was. Yes, I turned the TV on, and, yes, I got caught fairly quickly. When my dad asked why I had done that, I remember offering up a reverse psychology excuse that I knew I watched too much TV anyway, and that having the extended punishment duration I knew would be coming would probably be good for me. Much to his credit, I’m pretty sure my dad kept a straight face the whole time. As far as excuses for bad behavior go, that one was pretty terrible. But at least it wasn’t as bad as Aaron’s here was. Let’s talk today about what may be the funniest scene in the entirety of the Scriptures.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 32:19-20

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“As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain. He took the calf they had made, burned it up, and ground it to powder. He scattered the powder over the surface of the water and forced the Israelites to drink the water.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What makes you angry? Are they mostly righteous things or selfish ones? We all have our list. The items on that list are the result of all kinds of different experiences. Ultimately, the things that make us angry say a lot about us. If we get angry about the wrong things, that’s a sign that we believe the wrong things. If we get angry about the right things, we are much more likely to be on the right track…even angry. When Moses discovered what the Israelites were doing, he got angry. Let’s talk about what happened here and what should make us angry.

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