- God can take the broken pieces of our lives, the horrific mistakes, the botched opportunities, the wicked outcomes emerging from our evil hearts and use them as reminders as we move forward for the Kingdom.
Augustine once said, “Such is each one as is his love. Love earth, you shall be earth.”
In other words, it matters what you love, and what you worship. You become like the object to which you devote your passionate attention.
Recently I was reflecting on the Golden Calf incident in Exodus. As readers might recall, Moses is up on Sinai with the Lord receiving the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. The people down below, worrying about what seems to be taking so long, panic and take egregious action…with the assistance of the seemingly intimidated Aaron. “Tear off the rings of gold…and bring them to me.” From the molten metal he fashioned a calf (symbolic of strength and fertility in the Ancient Near East) and then, inexplicably, declared, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
Syncretism is a debilitating thing: mixing one’s homemade version of God with…God. Calvin intimated that the calf episode was Israel’s attempt to make God accessible by manufacturing of deity on their own terms. Anthropologists have observed that, in cultures where this happens, the people end up taking on the moral character attributed to the animal or whatever image they have devised and deemed worthy of celebration and prostration. The reason this happens, according to these same anthropologists, is that people create a “god” that represents the sum total of the values they appreciate the most. Hence, people end up worshipping…themselves.
A.W. Tozer once remarked, “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move to the mental image of our God.” If you want a terrifying prospect, just imagine becoming more like the worst of your own personality! The Psalmist twice reminds us that “The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath at all in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.”
Anyone who appreciates the insights of the anthropologists and knows the depth of Scripture and of their own sin ought to tremble.
Later in the story, Moses comes down from the mountain and finds the people “out of control.” Not chaotic, so to speak, for there was much organization put into the calf episode. Sacrifice, planning, an altar, dancing, music, offerings—all valid elements of worship when practiced appropriately.“Out of control” here, in the Hebrew, is not so much chaos but the removal of restraint. There is much more to the story, as Exodus suggests; but eventually Moses charges the people, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD…” We are told that that word “dedicate” milʾû yedkhem, is quite literally, “Fill your hand,” meaning to consecrate someone for service. Fact of the matter is, hands are typically filled on a moment-by-moment basis in a spiritual sense – either with doing your will, or the Lord’s.
One more note about this passage that moved me as I studied it that day – while not part of the biblical text. Moses comes down and hears the singing surrounding worship of the calf, sees the dancing people, and shatters the tablets at the foot of the mountain. Rabbinic tradition suggests that both the replacement tablets and the fragments of the first tablets were put in the ark of the covenant. The broken pieces were not discarded.
There is great hope in that tradition. God can take the broken pieces of our lives, the horrific mistakes, the botched opportunities, the wicked outcomes emerging from our evil hearts and use them as reminders as we move forward for the Kingdom.
Instead of forgetting our “golden calf” episodes, we remember (even as we wince at our pasts) as we continue our whole-hearted pilgrimage for Him.
Matt Friedeman
