Tag: moses

Children’s lesson Exodus 32

Israel makes a golden calf idol to replace God

Exodus 32

After God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments, Moses was away from the people up on Mt. Sinai with the Lord for several days. During that time, God was speaking to Moses, but the people didn’t hear Him. It caused them to grow impatient. They decided they didn’t want a god that they couldn’t see.

They had heard His voice give the commandments. They had seen Him do wonders for them. But they weren’t willing to wait to hear from Him. Unfortunately, sometimes Christians do that. Some of them even depart for churches that claim God is doing more miracles and speaking more prophecies than they are hearing at their own church. So they leave, wanting God to entertain them and thrill them. When they do that, they often end up listening to false teachings that didn’t come from God or His word at all. They become false worshipers then.

That’s what happened to Israel while Moses was on the mountain receiving all of the law of God. The people went to Aaron the priest. They said, “We don’t know what has become of this Moses. Maybe he is never coming back. You, Aaron, get up and work to make us a god in an image like the other nations worship. Make a god for us to follow who will go before us.”

I’ve got terrible news for you: Aaron didn’t tell the people “NO” like he should have. He told them to bring the gold jewelry that God had made the Egyptians give them to pay for their years of slavery. He molded all that gold into the shape of a calf. Then he told the people a lie. He said, “Here are the gods that brought you out of Egypt,” pointing to the calf he had made. Aaron said, “Tomorrow we’ll have a feast to God, celebrating the calf.” The people got up early in the morning to celebrate the calf. They ate and drank and got drunk. And they had a wild party, with sinful activities, all to celebrate the calf, pretending it was God.

Now remember what they had heard God’s voice say from the mountain in the 10 Commandments. “You will have no other gods.” They now had taken another god. “Do not make any images or idols for worship.” They now were worshiping an idol shaped like a cow. “Do not lie” and they were lying about who God was. “Do not covet what someone else has.” And they were coveting the false gods of the Egyptians. God had told them such things were sinful, and because they didn’t want to wait for God to lead them, they followed Aaron and the false god he made with his own hands.

God told Moses to go down the mountain because the people were rebelling and worshiping an idol. God even offered to wipe them out and make a new nation from Moses’ descendants. Moses passed the test before him, though. He pleaded with God to forgive them and keep His promises to the nation of Israel. Moses didn’t want God to honor Moses. He wanted God to honor His own name so that all might believe. This is exactly what God did.

When Moses got down the mountain, all of the sinfulness he saw made him angry like God was angry. He destroyed the idol and burned it. He demanded an explanation from Aaron. And Aaron lied. He claimed the idol formed itself in the fire. (People who worship idols like to lie about the idols and claim they can do miracles. But only God can actually do those miracles.)

Then Moses and the tribe of Levi who were God’s real priests, punished with death the worst offenders of the nation, who had done the most vile things in worship of the idols. And a plague of sickness from God came on the people, and many suffered.

This is what sin and rebellion against God can bring. It is very important to learn that after God has saved us and made us His children by faith in Christ, that we must obey Him. We must try not to sin. And when we do fail and commit sin, we must confess it to God and receive His forgiveness. God is worthy of our obedience. And we learn that today from what the Bible just told us about the nation of Israel and their golden calf idol to replace God.

God teaches His children to trust

Here is this week’s children’s lesson, from Exodus 15:

Bitter water made sweet, God teaches His children

Exodus 15:22-27

After God brought His people Israel through the Red Sea safely, they worshiped Him, singing with joy. They sang praise to Him for His greatness. They sang praise to Him for the greatness of all He had done to save them. This was a good attitude. We should also sing and praise God for Who He is. And we should also sing and praise God for what He has done for us.

When we begin to walk with God, God wants to teach us to continue always trusting Him to take care of us. That’s what God wanted to do for the Israelites, too. The way He teaches us to trust Him involves letting us face problems only He can solve. That’s what He let happen to the people of Israel. As they walked in the wilderness, they ran out of water to drink. And at first, they couldn’t find any.

That’s a real problem, isn’t it? Water to drink is a need for every one of us. If we didn’t have it, it wouldn’t take long to get us to pray for it. That’s how it is when we need God’s help. We learn to pray. The Jews needed water to drink, and didn’t have it. Three days passed, and when they finally found a source of water, it was bitter. It was undrinkable. And the people did what we probably would, too. They complained. “What are we going to drink?” they asked Moses, grumbling.

Moses did the right thing. He cried out to God. When things are difficult, there are two options of what to do. One: Cry out against God. Or Two: Cry out TO God, for help. Moses picked the right option. He cried out to God for help. And God did a miracle to help all His people. Yahweh the Lord showed Moses a log. And when Moses threw the log into the water, it instantly turned the water from bitter to sweet. It was perfect water for them all to drink.

Then God made the people a promise. He said, “If you will diligently listen to The Lord your God, do what He says is right, obey His commandments, and keep His laws, then this is what I will do for you: I will protect you from all the diseases I put on the Egyptians, because I am Your healer.”

Then God brought them to a place called Elim. It was beautiful. It had twelve springs of fresh water. That’s one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. It also had 70 palm trees to shade them from the sun. The people camped there, resting comfortably in God’s presence. Their time of slavery was over. And they could live in God’s presence, and have peace.

This is how God wants to provide for us, too. When we become His children by faith in Christ, we learn to take each problem to Him. When we trust Him, He helps us, and takes care of our needs, as we obey Him.