Background
God always reveals how he wants his people to live and how worship Him.
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do...”
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” Exodus 24:3, 12
We often have such short memories, forgetting God
God led his people through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud / fire.
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night". Exodus 13:21
Today he leads us through the words of the Old and New Testament of Holy Scriptures.
Moses was gone 40 days and the people forgot their God and His ways, angering God. This brought consequences on the people who chose to turn away from the worship of the true God to the gods of Egypt.
"When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him...”
God said to Moses, "They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it"
"the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book"
Exodus 32:1, 8, 33
God has promised the return of the Lord Jesus from heaven to the earth to set up the kingdom (Acts 1:11). Do we sometimes forget and return to the ways that are tempting and contrary to God's ways, forgetting who is leading us?
Let's be God Guided
We need to be guided by God's guide in our beliefs, values, behaviour. How do we do this? By reading and being guided by God's words. Let us be guided by Jesus' and the Berean followers examples:
Examples from the life of Jesus
Jesus answered using examples from Holy Scriptures - God's words. For example,
"the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he [Jesus] answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:3-4Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:29-32
Example from the Believers from Berea
"received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" Acts 17:11
Let us remove the golden calves from our lives
God wants us to search our own hearts, consider what might be our golden calf(s), work to destroy these idols / temptations and return to him.
"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God"... Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:1-4, 8 & 10
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-11
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
