Exodus Leaders Notes Session 11

This session deals with one of the more infamous failures in the Exodus account - the golden calf incident. At first glance, this seems like a breaking of the first commandment (you shall have no other gods before me). But when we look more closely, we see that it is actually a breaking of the second commandment (do not make any graven images). The Israelites were not creating a false god as much as they were creating their own way to approach and worship the God that brought them out of Egypt. They corrupted the plan that God had given them and tried to make their own way. We encounter this today when we meet people who have created their own "belief system" that includes things other than God's teaching in the Bible. Or when someone decides that something can't be true because of their life experience (ex. there is no hell because my deceased family member did not believe in Jesus, so I choose not to believe that).

We also encounter this principle when we try to live our lives differently than the way God directs us. When we decide to sacrifice our integrity in order to get ahead in our career or get a better grade in the class. When we decide that the stress is too great and we can't trust God to resolve the situation or provide for the need. When we go our own way we corrupt ourselves and God must guide us back to His path (and that is sometimes a painful process!).

Correction: there is a mistake on page 112 in listing the same 3 set of verses from page 111. The correct verses for page 112 are John 14:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, and Hebrews 3:12-13