Dancing Deviants

[NOTE: I did check my "last chance" resource for the hymn "Forty Days and Forty Nights", and was not able to re-locate the stanza that linked the Flood to the Temptation... but maybe I will write my own sometime between now and Lent 2010.]

And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot... (Exodus 32:19)

It's quite an interesting thing to consider: the people of ancient Israel, who had danced in victorious praises to God after crossing the Red Sea, shortly disgraced themselves in a dance of sensuality before an idol- a golden calf that had been fashioned using their own jewelry.

Sometimes, the wilderness experience reveals how far away from God we really are. And all the singing, dancing, and worshipping in the world cannot mask a heart that despises the counsel and discipline of God.

We hear the appeal of God in Psalm 95:8, "Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness". In the opportune moment, the kairos moment, Israel failed to demonstrate complete trust in God. Pastor Sam shared three points in this regard:

-they gave in to the temptation of grumbling and longing for a return to bondage and slavery (Exodus 16:3);
-they gave in to the desire to settle in a place that God did not intend for them to stay (Numbers 32:1-9);
-they gave in to the fear of perceived threats to God's promise instead of focusing on the miracle of God's provision (Numbers 13:26-33).

When God has already spoken concerning a matter, our only appropriate response is to agree with God, trust Him, and obey Him.

SO, what will you do while you are in this wilderness experience of no work, no food, no vision? Will you distract yourself, like Israel of old, with sensuality and idolatry? Or will you face the barrenness of the wilderness with an unwavering trust in the Spirit of the Lord who sent you there to be tested?

YES! "I will bring you into the wilderness and plead with you... Like I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the LORD GOD" (see Ezekiel 20:35-36).