St. John's Lutheran
God's Love and Mercy is Certain in Christ!

Exodus 32:7-10 New International Version
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Friday - July 23
This episode of the Golden Calf took place while Moses was up on the mountain with God receiving the Ten Commandments. That means that Exodus 20-31 takes place simultaneously with Exodus 32. In Exodus 20, God told Moes to tell the Israelites, “I am YOUR God, who brought you out of Egypt.” Now he says, “YOUR (Moses) people, whom YOU (Moses) brought up…” The Israelites abandoned God and God seems ready to abandon them in return. This is the tension that runs throughout the rest of the Bible and in our daily lives. What will happen when we abandon God? We live under the basic assumption that God will abandon us! Every day we worry about the future as if God’s love and mercy is not certain. However, we know that God’s love and mercy IS certain in Christ.