Heart Tracks - Two Calf God

     Jeroboam was an Israelite noble who became an enemy and rival to first, Solomon the king, and then his son, Rehoboam.  Eventually he led a breakaway of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel and formed what became known as the northern kingdom.  Not long after, an idea, supported by his counselors, came to him.  God had required his people to come at certain appointed times, and offer sacrifice and worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jeroboam feared that if he allowed his people to travel to Jerusalem, which was part of the southern kingdom, he would lose his people and his kingdom.  Therefore, he made two golden calves, and set them up in the town of Peniel.  He said to the people, "It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt."  Now, it was the Father Himself who had commanded that the people come to Jerusalem to worship Him, to make the journey from wherever their home was.  More, the two calves that Jeroboam and the people set up was not an abandoning of the name of Jehovah God, but the setting up of a god created according to their image of Him.  A more convenient God.  A God of convenience.  The Father however, called it sin, saying in I Kings 14:16, that the sin of Jeroboam caused the nation itself to sin against God.  The question that continues to whisper in my spirit is, to what degree have we committed that same sin?  To what degree have we sought to transform God into what fits our own image of Him?  How have we tried to make Him a more convenient God?  A God of convenience?

     A God of convenience is indeed, convenient.  He makes minimum demands and gives maximum co-operation.  He not only asks us do little, even more, He permits us to BE little.  We seek Him out, at places and times that suit us, for His co-operation in the fulfillment of our agendas.

We want Him to bring our plans and desires to pass.  Wanting Him is secondary, if such a desire is present at all.  Can we bear the question of what it is we really seek from Him?  Do we want communion with Him that will satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts, or co-operation from Him that will improve our lives and provide a convenient plan for us to follow in having that improvement?  We need only look at our prayer lives to see which one prevails.  If we ask this question of ourselves, then we must ask another.  Are we a blessing dependent people, or a Christ centered one?  If blessing is our central desire, our loyalty and love of Him only goes as deep as the blessings last.  Yet, if we are living in the deep of God, we move on in overwhelming victory whether blessing is present or not.  Indeed, our whole definition of what blessing is changes. He is the blessing, and one we will not give up no matter what comes our way.
    Where in our lives, our families and our church fellowships, have we too created a two calve god?  Where have we fashioned a god more in line with our own ideas of who he should be, and how he should behave?  The Father called, commanded the people to come to Jerusalem to worship Him.  There could be no other location.  He calls us today to the cross of Christ, to partake of that cross, for only there can we truly partake of His life.  Only there can we really worship Him.  Have you bought into the sin of Jeroboam, trying to relate to Him at Peniel, when He has called you to Jerusalem?  Do you pursue the good life as defined by you, or knowing Him and His life as He has defined life?  Do you come to Jerusalem, the cross, or do you linger at Peniel, with the two calf god?

Blessings,
Pastor O