THEOLOGY THURSDAY

BY DAVE HOLZHAUER

There’s a Russian proverb that says “old favors are soon forgotten.” We humans suffer from short memories when they should be long and long memories when they should be short; we remember hurts and grievances for years but forget kindness in a day. Even as you read the previous sentence you might even have remembered some kindness or benefit you had forgotten about. Struggling to remember is nothing new; it’s easy to become fixated on the challenge you’re currently facing.

Throughout the book of Exodus, the Israelites struggle. The book starts off by describing their travails under pharaohs who have forgotten Joseph and what he did for Egypt. It tells how they struggle both physically and with their faith in God rescuing them after they were told to make bricks without straw. When Pharaoh pursued the nation of Israel into the wilderness and tried to trap them against the Red Sea the people panicked, wondering why they ever listened to Moses and God in the first place. As the chapters go on, the people complain when they don't find water or food. Or, of course there is always the example of making the golden calf while Moses is talking to God on the mountain. It's easy to feel smug and wonder why the Israelites did not remember how God had come through for them in the past. But we should also remember that Paul warns us: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1Corithians 10:11 ESV).

There’s a lot to unpack, but I’d like to focus primarily on what the story of the golden calf says about you and me (or maybe just me). Bull shaped gods were common in the ancient Near East, usually representing some combination of strength and fertility; oxen were generally the draft animal used to plow the fields and make food production possible. Scripture says that when Aaron had fashioned a golden calf, the people declared “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” People worship what they find admirable and compelling. I think in worshiping a statue that represented strength and fertility, the people show what they, at their cores, worship. This, to me, helps explain why the people seem so bitter and caustic when complaining about lack of food or water: rather than telling God about their need, what the people have put as their central desire, food, drink, and comfort, has not happened. We’re often at our most bitter and cynical when our deepest hopes have been dashed or have not fulfilled.

One of the central claims of the Bible is that God is infinitely the most desirable being/thing; everything else is, at best, an unsatisfactory substitute. We struggle to remember that. Other things, each with a flavor that seems particularly sweet to each of us, are much louder and urgent.  But as an old pastor once said "urgent is not the same as important." Remember the important things, because they're worth remembering. 

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