“Calf Crafting” part 2

(Part 2 in series)

“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, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

                                                                                                            Exodus 32:4

There is a lot of calf crafting still going on in the house of God still today. Men and women trying to craft God into their image! It is most commonly heard in what I like to call the “I think” statements:

“I think God would want me to be happy! (Even though what you want is contrary to His Word.)”

“I think God would understand if I don’t tithe this month.”

“I think God is more concerned about a woman’s right to choose than He is the life of a baby in the womb.”

“I think God created me this way and won’t condemn me for participating in the homosexual lifestyle.”

“I don’t think God would send good people to hell.”

All of this is nothing more than calf crafting! It is a vain attempt to mold God into an image that soothes our conscience and supports our desire to indulge our flesh. How long will we understand that it isn’t “What I think” that matters, but what God commands us that counts?

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, who you brought out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 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, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

                                                                                                            Exodus 32:7-8

How did God’s chosen people find themselves worshipping a lifeless idol?  Exodus 32:7 tells us that it started when they turned from God’s command. Once they rejected His Word they began to bow down to the image they created. When we began to defend our positions, although we cannot back them up Biblically, we have bowed to it. Ultimately they moved beyond bowing down to sacrificing to the image. When you are willing to give up your “faith” to follow your own fleshly desires you have sacrificed!

When Moses came down off the mountain and saw what was happening he threw the tablets to the ground breaking them:

“When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

                                                                                                                        Exodus 32:19

Why break the tablets? Because you can’t live according to His Word if you are worshipping a golden calf!