August 9, 2020 Living Water CAC Daily Devotional Guide :- TOPIC : NOT MY PEOPLE, BUT YOUR PEOPLE!
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Sunday, August 9, 2020 – International Day of the World’s Indigenous People
NOT MY PEOPLE, BUT YOUR PEOPLE!
Read: Exodus 32:1-11
Exodus 32:1-11 AMP“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD!” So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint]. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.” But Moses appeased and entreated the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?”
MEMORISE: And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves” (Exodus 32:7)
EXPOSITION
Exodus records several incidents that God used to prove to Pharaoh and the Egyptians that Israel was His people (cf. Ex. 3:10; 5:1; 7:4; 8:23). God was jealous of them and would not allow anyone to oppress them. On mount Sinai, He made a covenant with them and promised, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; … you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod. 19:5). But there is a prayer that people of a certain tribe in Nigeria often pray: ‘May you not become a strench in the nostril of the one who loves you!’ Israel became a stench in God’s nostril, so much that at a time. He rechristened them Lo-Ammi, saying, You are not My people! (Hos. 1:9).
Back in Exodus, before Moses brought the Law to them, they had corrupted themselves (Exo. 32:7) by making golden calf (an object of worship) for themselves and attributed the work of salvation from slavery to it (Exod. 32:4). Consequently, Israel was like a football, kicked by God to Moses, and Moses kicked them back to God! God said, Your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt… (Exod. 32:7) Moses fired back: Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt… (Exod. 32:11; 33:13,16).
As Christians, we are the Israel of God, as Paul made clear in Galatians (6:16). He also warned that we should not be idolaters as they were. We should not commit sexual immortality as they did. We should not test Christ as they did, and we should not grumble as they did (1 Cor. 10:7-10). But what if we do? The warning is stern enough: For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either (Rom. 11:21). It is not enough to say I am a child of God. It is better, if God endorses one’s sonship (Matt. 3:17; 17:5).
PRAYER POINTS
1. Pray that in your conduct and speech, you will not do things that will make you a stench in God’s nostril.
2. Pray against the sinful heart that turns away from the Living God.
3. Pray for God’s people who are going through trying periods of persecution, everywhere.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Psalms 8 – 12; Jude 1