Moses Supposes

Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”  Exodus 32:9-10

This verse of Scripture and the verses that follow tell us clearly why Moses was found to be more humble than any other man on the earth (Numbers 12:3).

The scene was something, sadly, familiar to us all.  

Moses had gone up Mount Sinai to meet with God where he was receiving the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.  But it was taking a long time.  The Israelites became impatient.  They went to Aaron and complained, asking him to make them some gods who could lead them since they didn't know what happened to Moses.  

And Aaron did.

He asked the people to bring them all their gold rings and he fashioned them into a gold calf for the people to worship.  When Aaron saw how excited the people were to have the gold calf, he even built an altar in front of it, and the people brought sacrifices and committed all kinds of lewd and sinful acts in this worship of the gold calf.

How quickly they turned away from God when all the while He was preparing a blessing—a blessing many of them missed forever because they were impatient and doubted God's goodness.

But look at the humility of Moses in this passage of Scripture.  God was ready to wipe them all out and make Moses into a great nation.  Moses could have been another Abraham—the father of a great nation.  Yet Moses thought about the people.  He put himself last and asked God to turn from his fierce anger and remember the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And God did.

I wonder.

Do you ever grow impatient with God's timing and doubt His goodness to you?  

If you had been in Moses' shoes, what would you have done?

I pray that we never forget God's goodness or doubt His great love for all of us—a love that He demonstrates every moment of every day.

Goodnight, Runners.