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NOT A HEART TURNED BACK TO EGYPT (II)
TUESDAY, JUNE 22
Acts 7:37-41

Exodus 32:1-14

 

“…and in their hearts

turned back again into Egypt…”

 

NOT A HEART TURNED BACK TO EGYPT (II)
 
In particular, Stephen describes how the Israelites at Mount Sinai “would not obey” the prophet of God, but “thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us” (Acts 7:39-40). The reference here is to the events described in the book of Exodus when the Israelites “saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount” (Exod 32:1) and persuaded Aaron to make them “gods” to lead them; and he in wicked foolishness “fashioned… a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (v 4).
 
Stephen describes this in terms of the hearts of the people turning back to Egypt, it seems partly because they were returning in their hearts to the idolatry that they witnessed in Egypt. Growing tired of waiting for Moses to descend from the mount, they wanted “gods” that they could see and touch, and in whose worship they could indulge their sensuality ‒ so they “sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Exod 32:6).
 
Even more than that, however, in grossly imagining that they could “make… gods” to lead them, the people were implicitly rejecting in their hearts the God who had brought them out of Egypt: and so, effectively, bringing themselves back into the house of bondage. This seems to be the significance of the repeated emphasis in this passage on the one who brought them out of Egypt (cf. Exod 32:1, 4, 7-8, 11). They were behaving like those “who draw back unto perdition” (Heb 10:39).
 
Dear reader, we do indeed “have need of patience” (Heb 10:36)! Let us not have such a heart, which is quick to return to the things that once held us in bondage! It can be a powerful temptation for we may once have found solace in those things; and in times when God seems to be silent and distant, it may seem acceptable to compromise for the sake of comfort. But we need to remember that whatever we had from our past idolatries was in fact a false satisfaction. We ought rather to persevere, and seek God than ever to turn back to Egypt.
 
THOUGHT: Faith looks forward and presses on; not backward.

PRAYER: O Father, let me never “draw back unto perdition”!

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