Monday, November 12, 2012

Lame excuses

Sometimes the Bible records things that people said and I find those things humorous.  For example, in Exodus 32, the people have escaped Egypt and Moses has been up on the mountain for a while.  Then they get the idea that they need to make a new god to go before them.  Aaron, who has been left in charge, tells the people to take off all their gold earrings and give them to him.  The text states clearly that he fashioned this gold with a graving tool and made it into a calf.  Then he built an altar to it.  Meanwhile, Moses is up on the mountain with God and God tells him to go down because the people are sinning...big time.  So he heads down, finds the people in the middle of a bunch of sin, and is furious.  He asks Aaron what the people did to him to cause him to bring such sin on them.  Aaron summarizes.  The line that really gets me is when he says "So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." 
Really?  You really believe Moses is going to buy that one? Aaron's excuse is pretty lame.  And I find myself judging Aaron as if I've never made a lame excuse for my sin.  I excuse myself for anger, telling God that it was someone else's fault because they made me angry.  Lame.  I excuse myself for laziness, telling God that I needed a break.  Lame.  I make too many excuses.  I need to take a cue from David, who had a heart after God.  He sinned.  He sinned badly.  But when he was confronted with the sin, he didn't say "Well, she shouldn't have been taking a bath on her roof!"  or "Hey, sometimes war is hard and people die."  He admitted that he sinned and desired to be close to God again, following His ways.  I pray that I would be like David and take correction with wisdom and true repentance, asking God to forgive and give strength to obey Him. 

2 comments:

  1. But I like my lame excuses!

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  2. are you and i doing the same Bible read through because i feel like i just wrote this blog the other day to post at a future date?

    david would have been right to argue that women shouldn't bathe in public and that in war people will die."

    david was righteous because he repented and by faith made his petition to God to save him from his decisions.

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