The Tent Of MeetingSample

One of the most well known stories in the book of Exodus is the story of the golden calf. While Moses was taking a long time to come back down from the mountain (he was up there for 40 days!), the people of Israel asked Aaron to build them a god so they could worship it. They gathered all the gold they could find and Aaron made a statue of a golden calf. The people gathered to see the statue and give it thanks for freeing them from slavery in Egypt. And when he saw the excitement of the crowd, Aaron built an altar so the people could come and worship.

Other than the fact that this statue was built AFTER they left Egypt and that it seems completely ludicrous to me that the people could have believed something like this, I wonder if we, like the Israelites, sometimes fall into the same trap as creative people today.

We start with a heart that is pure and that truly desires to worship God. But then we bring our symbolic “gold”: our gifts, our talents, our creativity. Maybe we led worship particularly well on a Sunday morning. Maybe we came up with an incredible concept for the next event or the next conference. Maybe we just wrote a song that’s going to be used on an album. -- Or whatever else it may be. And then, when we see how people are in awe at what we’ve come up with, we build an altar for people to worship God – but we keep for ourselves part of the glory that He is due.

One of the things that stands out to me after this episode in their story is the fact that Moses chose to move the Tent of Meeting outside of the camp of the Israelites. In a certain way, it’s like he wanted the people to understand that their idolatry had made them unworthy of God’s presence.

But despite their idolatry, I love the grace of God in verse 8 where we read that all those who wanted to spend time with Him could still come to the Tent to encounter Him.

His presence is always accessible to all… but His glory does not reside where He is not glorified.

Is God glorified in our midst?

God desires our creativity. God calls upon our creativity. But let’s not make a golden calf out of the gifts and talents which He has entrusted us with. God alone deserves all of our worship.

Today’s question: In a way that is genuine and true, how can I make sure that God gets all the glory when I serve Him with the gifts and talents which He has entrusted me with?