Hi all! Today’s story comes from Exodus 32.

So Moses was up on Mt Sinai talking to God for 40 days (40 wake ups!)

And the people got bored with all that waiting. They said “Why is it taking so long?! What are we DOING out here?! Let’s make a new god!”

So Aaron, Moses’ brother told all the people to take their gold jewelry and dishes and they melted it all together and then they made a gold cow. They said “THIS is our God!”

But a gold statue can’t love you, or care for you. A gold statue can’t hear you when you pray. The people made a bad choice.

They put food in front of the gold cow, and they danced and sang songs. They bowed down to the ground and had a fancy party for the cow.

God was NOT happy. He sent Moses back down the mountain to tell the people to STOP IT! Only GOD is the real God. He is the One we pray to and sing songs for and dance for. He is the One who loves us and protects us and leads us.

God was very frustrated, but Moses asked God to please forgive the people.

There were still bad consequences for the people worshipping the cow and not God (some of them died and some more got very very sick). God just told us in the 10 commandments to put Him first and not worship any other thing…and His own people turned around and were doing just that.

It makes God very sad when we disobey or make bad choices. He did forgive the people though and He promised to lead them to the land He had waiting them. Even when we mess up or when God seems confusing or far away, we can trust that He loves us and has good plans for us. We can pray and ask Him to be close to us and to show us where to go next.

One more lesson in Exodus and then we’ll start Leviticus-Ruth in August. Love to you all!