Today’s reading comes from Exodus 32. Here’s a quick summary:
- Moses has been gone up on Mt. Sinai talking to God (for 40 days)
- While Moses was gone, the people get restless and think Moses isn’t coming back, and they start pestering Aaron (who’s left in charge) to give them a tangible god (idol) to worship.
- Aaron makes the people a golden calf.
- God sees this and becomes angry, and tells Moses he is going to destroy the people of Israel.
- Moses intercedes – he begs God’s mercy and forgiveness – for the people, and reminds God of the promises He’s made regarding the nation’s future.
- God agrees to spare the Israelites.
- Moses returns to the camp with the tablets written by the Lord and confronts Aaron and the people.
- After all of this, Moses asks who in the camp is on the Lord’s side and then instructs those that are to kill “his brother and his companion and his neighbor”.
- Moses speaks to the people about their sin and promises to go back up the mountain to beg God’s forgiveness for the people’s actions.
This chapter has quite a bit going on with its story and from a theological standpoint. For this Tuesday’s devotion though, I want to focus on Moses’ willingness to speak to God on behalf of the very people who have given up on him and begun worshiping a cow. (Seriously – can you imagine just how foolish these people looked to Moses who had just spent more than a month in God’s presence? They’re bowing down to a cow made of metal???)
Moses’ first response to God’s anger was to beg for mercy for the people. Then, after going down and seeing what had happened during his absence with his own eyes, he has an even better understanding of the gravity of the people’s sin. I’m imagining on a personal level there were likely feelings of hurt, betrayal, anger, frustration, sadness, embarrassment, etc.
But Moses didn’t respond to the people in a way that indicated he was thinking about himself at all. He cared for the people. He knew they had messed up but wanted them to be back in God’s favor again. He prayed for them, begged for mercy, and even reminded God of past promises in hopes of salvation for the people.
This isn’t a natural way to pray (at least for me, it isn’t). But as I reflect on these words, there are at least three very specific people in my life that I am convicted to go to God to fight for. Two are believers, one is not. But each has something (a golden calf, if you will) that is separating them from the Lord. Going to God and praying for his forgiveness and mercy on their behalf isn’t something I’ve thought to do – but just as Moses was willing to intercede for his people, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same?