🌿Breathe Truth🌿
“The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.” —Psalm 106:19-20
🌿Believe Truth🌿
From the time we are young, we start out trading. Kids trade baseball or game cards, toys, and snacks (do you want to trade my lunch snack for yours?)
As we grow into adulthood, we trade for bigger things. Individuals trade-in cell phones, computers, and cars. Teams trade ball players. Companies trade stocks.
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The laws of the trade is this:
- We trade because we think we are going to get a better deal.
- We trade because we think our new trade will increase in value.
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After the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, Moses went up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments tablets. He took longer than expected. After incorrectly concluding that Moses was not returning, the Israelites had Aaron make a golden calf.
Coming down the mountain, Moses heard the sounds of laughter and rejoicing: God’s people were celebrating their new god, the golden calf.
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They had made the worst trade possible. They traded a divine God for one constructed by human hands. They traded the eternal for the temporal. They traded heaven for a piece of metal.
They traded their glorious God who had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt for a grass-munching, tail swatting bull.
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The tragedy of the Israelites trade is that they believed they had received a good deal. The golden calf was a statue they could see, touch, and feel. Though it was an inanimate object, it portrayed an image that possessed a physical presence.
Conversely, Yahweh God was a figure made not of wood, stone, or metal that they could lay hands upon nor their eyes find comfort in seeing. Yahweh God, without concrete, earthly dimensions, appealed less and appeared less real to them.
The reality: the golden calf was nothing more than a lifeless, man-made idol. It held no powers to lead the Israelites through the wilderness, nor would it be able to protect them from personal dangers or perilous enemies. How tragic a trade.
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In your life, what kind of trades are you making? Are you trading your free time to spend time with God, nourish your soul with His words, and listening to Him speak to your heart?
Are your trades ones that make God a priority? Are you trading your time to share the Gospel or show His Truth?
Whatever trade you make, no matter how seemingly small, is big, if it makes God big.
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Endeavor to make trades that make God known, and that make God big.
Trade the things of this world for the Real Truth.
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