Searching For A Substitute

Lately, I’ve been reading through the Old Testament. What? The Old Testament? Boring. I know I know. It’s so slow moving, monotonous, and unimportant, right? The stories drag, there’s so many laws, and the New Testament books are more exciting; so much more relatable.

Well…that’s what I used to think.

I’ve made it through Exodus, I’m about to start Leviticus, and I’ve been realizing how truly beautiful the books in the Old Testament are. Realizing how useful and in-depth they really are. 2 Timothy chapter 3 says:

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

2 Timothy is a letter written by Paul to a fellow missionary, Timothy. Paul wrote the letters in order to give Timothy warnings and encouragement. In this instance, he is encouraging Timothy to stay true to what he has learned. To remember the “holy writings” (v. 15) that he was taught from infancy. He writes that every scripture is inspired by God, good for teaching, for training in righteousness. These holy writings Paul’s talking about is the Old Testament – at this point in time, the New Testament was just being written. The Old Testament is the foundation for it all. Every time Jesus quoted scripture, he quoted from it. He grew up reading it, just like Timothy, just like Paul. So why do we neglect to read it nowadays?

But anyways, I promise I’m going somewhere with this – Exodus. After being delivered from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were walking in the wilderness. How many Israelites were there? Well, historians estimate about 2.4 million.

So let's stop and take this into perspective – about 2.4 million men, women, and children were walking in the wilderness [not to mention livestock too]. And every. single. day. God provided for them. He provided water out of rocks (Exodus 17), bread literally fell from the sky (Exodus 16:4). [keep in mind this all happened after he literally parted an entire sea for them!] They are never without food or water, and every person has exactly enough of what they need. Miracles are happening all the time, these people are seeing God move in incredible ways in their lives.

Alright, time for context:

The ten commandments had just been verbalized for the first time, and God had just given four chapters worth of instructions through Moses to the people about idols, marriage, stealing, and so on. The Israelites came out of a pagan nation, and therefore lived the pagan way. They knew nothing about what God wanted them to do, and so instructions were given so that these people would know how to conduct themselves. After all this, God tells Moses to come to the mountain and talk with Him, and Moses ends up being there for 40 days – a little bit over a month.

12 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.”…. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:12, 18)

God starts off His conversation asking Moses to ask the children of Israel to bring an offering to Him. Offerings of gold, silver, and brass. Of fine fabrics, special wood, spices, and so on. Everything that would be needed to build a temple, a sanctuary, so that God could dwell among them.

How beautiful is that?? Let’s recap for a minute and soak it in…go read it – Exodus 25:1-8. God is asking for His children to bring these things willingly from the heart (verse 2) so that He may dwell among them (verse 8). What?? A powerful, mighty God wanted to dwell with the sinful, unworthy Israelites?? Why? Simple. Because He loved them.

While all this is happening, what were the Israelites doing? Complaining. They got tired of waiting for Moses to come back, and so they went to Aaron and asked him to make them gods. Neglecting the fact that God is doing insane things in their lives every day, they wanted a cheap substitute and wanted idols to worship. And for whatever reason, Aaron agrees and tells them all to bring their gold (Exodus 32:2) so that he could build them a golden calf to worship. He then halfheartedly attempts to tie it back to God by telling the Israelites there will be a feast to the Lord (Exodus 32:5).

You think God didn’t realize this was going on? Of course He did…and He’s wasn’t happy.

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 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 and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:7-8)

God wanted gold to be collected in order for a temple to be built so He could dwell among His people. Instead, gold was collected to build an idol. For a substitute to be made in the place of the Lord, and to be worshipped. In Exodus 25, God refers to the Israelites as “the children of Israel”. Fast-forward to Exodus 32 and He refers to them as “your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt”. From my reading, this is the first time that I see God refer to them this way. I see an immediate distancing of God from His people. Instead of calling them children, He calls them Moses’ people. From this verse, you can sense the anger, frustration, and sadness He must feel because of this. The heartbreak of a jealous God, when the people He loves turn away and worship a false god.

God gave so much, loved so much, and the Israelites effectively spit in His face and turned to false gods. It’s so easy to sit back and judge at this, but we do the same sorts of things. Obviously this is an extreme example of looking for a substitute to God – I don’t think many of you are worshipping golden cows, but try applying this concept to your own life…

How many times do we seek God only when it’s convenient for us, and when things are tough? Then as soon as we’re delivered from whatever situation we’re in, we turn back to whatever idol we have in our lives – sports, TV shows, music, and so on. How many times is our focus taken from God and given completely to something worthless? How many times do we break God’s heart because we lose our passion for Him and decide to settle on a substitute? God does great things in our lives every day – just like He did for the Israelites – and somehow we neglect to see what God has blessed us with, and instead focus on worthless things.

Everything we have is a gift from God, and it would be a shame if we wasted it.

13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.

15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.

16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.

17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. (1 Chronicles 29: 13-18)