When the people saw that 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.”

Here stands one of the truly shocking lines of scripture.

The Israelites experienced God like no other people in history, in ways we only dream about. They tasted God (manna); felt God (heat & darkness); saw God (smoke & fire); heard God (cries of the Egyptians); smelled God (damp walls of the Red Sea).

Yet in one change of the calendar their faith dissolved.

The children of Israel turned from a seething mountain towards safer, controllable gods. They preferred a figurine to carry in their pocket to the Lord who led them out of slavery.

Hold on. Stay the course. Persevere. Many who experience the wonderful gifts of God turn away. Don’t be surprised when it happens, but join me in praying that it does not happen to me or you.

Exodus 32 in week seven of reading the Bible cover to cover