44.o. “Wilderness” – 8.u. “Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.”

 

Exodus 32:8-10  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

 Exodus 20:23    You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

 Deuteronomy 9:16  And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

 Judges 2:17   Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

 Proverbs 29:1    He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

 Zechariah 7:11-12     But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.  They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

 Psalms 78:8    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Quickly after the law was given to them, and they had promised to obey it; quickly after God had done such great things for them, and declared his kind intentions to do greater. Untractable, willful, and stubborn; unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse from all good, prone to all evil, incorrigible by judgments, and obstinate to all the methods of cure. (Benson)

How easy is it to fall away from intentional obedience to God and things of God? How easy is it to keep that unholy thought just a few more seconds in your mind? How easy is it to be tempted by things and thoughts of this world and what it establishes as important? How easy is it to not eat or drink from His Word? How easy is it to be influenced by things in this world? 

Take time and think about your past week and how much time was spent between worldly and Godly pursuits. There is no time like right now to affirm a new intentional choice to spend more time studying and meditating (thinking) about things of God, holiness, and the sinfulness of sin.

44.n. “Wilderness” – 8.t. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them”

 

 

Exodus 32:7  And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”

 Deuteronomy 9:12   Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

 Deuteronomy 4:16    beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

 Deuteronomy 32:5    They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.

 Judges 2:19    But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

God says to Moses, that the Israelites had corrupted themselves. Sin is the corruption of the sinner, and it is a self-corruption; every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust. They had turned aside out of the way. Sin is a departing from the way of duty into a by-path. They soon forgot God’s works. He sees what they cannot discover, nor is any wickedness of the world hid from him. We could not bear to see the thousandth part of that evil which God sees every day. (Henry)

As soon as our eyes fall away from God, our purposes change and our commitment wanes. Why does God’s Word say for us to keep our eyes on Jesus, meditate on the Word of God, and write His Word on our hearts and minds, because of how easy it is for us to fall away into wrong thinking and living and speaking. It does us well to have close friends of faith who speak of God and things of God each day. This world and what it has to offer will blind us to the things of God if we neglect His Word and become complacent in our walk with Him.