The Golden Calf (Exodus 32, 34:1-9)
Read & Discuss
The average person will spend 52 days of their life waiting in line. That’s a lot of…waiting! Waiting makes us impatient and leads to us to act or speak in a way we shouldn’t. Though the Israelites were provided meat, bread, and water, when Moses met with God for several weeks, the people felt abandoned and decided to make something new to worship. They made a metal cow! The people deserved punishment, but Moses asked God to forgive them. In the same way, we deserve to be punished for our sin, but God has made forgiveness available through Jesus.
Activity
Bake cookies together as a family; everyone participates. While the cookies bake, talk about how hard it is to wait for something you really want– like cookies! Talk about how impatience reveals what we truly desire most. Discuss what ‘things’ may be idols in our lives.
Memory Verse
Write up three strips of paper, each with one of these phrase from 1 Samuel 2:2: 1. there is none holy like the Lord. 2. for there is none besides You. 3. there is no rock like our God. Each day mix them up and then once per day have the family put them into the correct order.
Prayer
Ask God to reveal idols in our hearts, and forgive us for desiring them more than we desire Him. Ask God to help us remember His faithfulness and to help us keep God first in our lives.