Put To The Test

Moses . . . remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.   Exodus 24:18

When God gave the Ten Commandments, he spoke with an audible voice that all the people heard: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you’” (Exodus 19:9).

Moses came down the mountain and told the people what was going to happen, and then God spoke to them (see Exodus 20:1). Imagine hearing the audible voice of God! “When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!’” (20:18-19).

So Moses went back up the mountain and remained there forty days and nights (see Exodus 24:18), almost six weeks, and by the end of that time, the people were tired of waiting. They gathered around Aaron and said, “Come on, make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses” (32:1).

Only six weeks had passed since the people heard God himself telling them not to make any idols. Now, within a matter of days, they made a choice that directly contradicted one of God’s simplest instructions. The effects of their remarkable experience of God had faded quickly. Here is the mystery of sin and the weakness of human nature.

Six weeks of silence from God and the absence of their spiritual leader, Moses, was all it took to put their faith to the test. Does it seem like God has been hiding himself from you? What is putting your faith to the test? Don’t give in to despair. Watch and pray (see Matthew 26:41), and you will see the faithfulness of God.

For further reading, see Hebrews 3