Don’t Drink the Gold Water

Whether you’re familiar with the story of the Israelites in the Bible or not - you’ve probably heard the phrase “golden calf”. The actual story is a lot weirder than you can imagine, but I believe it and recently - I’ve been learning new things from it.

In Exodus 24, God invites Moses (the leader of the Israelites) up on a mountain to give him guidelines and insight that will help the people live with structure, peace, and spiritual intentionality. Some of these are called the Ten Commandments, and while they sound scary, they’re all really just wise ways to live.

But while Moses is gone, the Israelites get restless and they make a statue of a golden calf to worship. This genuinely sounds silly, but it's indicative of what we all often do. Sometimes when we have to wait on God, we pick something smaller and insignificant to focus on. When hoping in God feels too nebulous or obtuse, we try and put our hope in trinkets and statues. Our bank accounts, our reflection, the tidiness of our house, our Instagram follower count. Maybe we don't bow down to these things - but we focus our lives around them and keep our attention turned to them.

Any chance you've been drinking the gold water?

Anyhow, back to the Israelites. They make a golden calf. And when Moses comes back from his intimate time with God, he finds them worshipping this makeshift god and he gets MAD. And he actually melts the golden calf down, mixes the melted gold with water, and makes them drink it. This sounds like something a mom in the 1950s might do to prove a point.

But my husband made a great point recently… maybe Moses was trying to show them that you become what you behold. What you worship, what you adore, becomes a part of you… even at a cellular level.

So here's my no filter question on this Monday morning: is there any rhythm, routine, or place where your attention has become focused in the last year that might be a bit of golden calf?

These little idols, these lesser gods, distractions from patience and faithfulness that creep in? They also creep in to become a part of who we are.

And today feels like a great day to throw off the idols, break free from what has kept us captive, and put our hope back in Jesus. Amen?