Jealous and merciful God,
while Moses is on the mountain
receiving the pattern of heaven,
we grow restless in the valley.
We trade the God who brought us out of Egypt
for a god we can see,
a calf of gold
shaped from the very gifts You gave us.
We melt down Your blessings
and recast them into idols.
We dance around them,
call our sin “worship,”
and rise up to play,
forgetting the holiness that rescued us.
You see, and Your anger burns.
You tell Moses to go down,
for the people have corrupted themselves.
You speak of wiping them out
and making a new nation from him.
But Moses intercedes
he pleads for mercy,
for the sake of Your name among the nations,
for the sake of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
You relent from the disaster You had spoken.
Yet judgment still comes
the calf is ground to powder,
scattered on water,
and the people drink the bitterness of their sin.
The Levites rally to Moses’ side,
and the camp is purged of open rebellion.
The next day, Moses offers himself
“Blot me out of Your book if You will forgive them.”
But each one must bear their own guilt.
Still, You send Your angel ahead,
and the journey toward the promise continues.
Lord, keep me from shaping my impatience into idols.
Teach me to wait for You,
to trust that what You are doing in the unseen
is worth the delay.
Thank You for the Greater Mediator,
who did not only offer,
but truly bore my guilt
and turned away the wrath I deserved.
In the name of Jesus,
the One who stands in the breach
and writes our names in the Book of Life,
Amen.