“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Exodus 32:22-24
Blame Someone
Daily Devotion – July 3, 2023
Devotion based on Exodus 32:22-24
See series: Devotions
The temptation to blame someone else is amazingly strong when it is our fault.
Aaron was a leader who saw first-hand how the Lord rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He was an eyewitness of any number of miracles and was aware of the awesome presence of the Lord on Mount Sinai.
But that did not prevent him from sanctioning idol worship in the form of a golden calf. Aaron’s relative, Moses, was terrifically angry when he came down from Sinai, and Aaron’s response in the face of guilt and anger is laughable. “They gave me the gold, I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
The rationalizations we tell ourselves in the face of guilt and anger are amazing. Even when we own up publicly to what we have done wrong, we are tempted to blame someone else in private.
The Lord calls us to repent. But while he tells us to take responsibility, he blames someone else for our sins. Jesus was innocent, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus took our eternal punishment by suffering hell. As a result, we are on the way to heaven.
God has performed any number of miracles in our lives. Among the greatest is calling us to faith in Jesus. Through him, we have forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me take responsibility for my sins, and lead me to trust in you for forgiveness. Amen.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
