When the people saw Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him." Exodus 32:1
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
Impatience has a way of making us do things we wouldn't ordinarily do. This was true of the people of Israel looking for Moses to come down from the mountain. Rather than wait patiently for the one who was leading them through the wilderness, they reasoned to Aaron that what they needed was a god they could see that would go before them and guide them.
So, Aaron promptly had the people hand him their gold earrings and from these he made an idol shaped in the likeness of a calf. This calf, this crudely fashioned glob of gold, now became the people's new object of worship.
Impatience. It makes us do some pretty ridiculous things. It may not lead us to fashion some absurd image from our family's gold or silver, but impatience can harden our hearts toward God and His purpose for our lives.
As Christians we are called to serve -- but we are also called to wait. God's timing is not ours. When the time was right God created the universe. When the time was right God sent His Son to be born in a Bethlehem manger. When the time was right Jesus died for the sins of the world.
And three days later, when the time was right, God raised Him from the dead. Because of this, all who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior will have eternal life.
Now that's something worth waiting for.
THE PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, comfort us by Your Holy Spirit when we lose heart and impatiently seek our own way. Remind us You are in control of everything, and we are to be faithful and committed to Your Word in all circumstances. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
Biography of Author: This devotion is based on a text submitted from Pastor Egon M. Seibert serving with Lutheran Hour Ministries in Paraguay. Established in Asuncion in 2000, LHM-Paraguay operates as Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones and is active in door-to-door ministry, radio programming, Project JOEL, Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC), and Equipping the Saints (ETS) training.
To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhmint.org.
Today's Bible Readings: Isaiah 17-19 Ephesians 4
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