Articles
“We Become What We Worship”
We've all heard the expression, "You are what you eat," but what about, "You are what you worship"? The Psalmists and the Prophets said something similar. Consider the words of Psalm 115:4-8 (cf. Isa. 44:9-20):
"Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them."
Whether we are particularly religious or not, we all worship and give our allegiance to something or someone (Mt. 6:24). And whatever we revere we come to resemble, either to our ruin or our restoration. Exodus 32-34 shows both sides of this truth.
In Exodus 32, the newly redeemed people of Israel sat waiting at the foot of the mountain for Moses to return. In the ensuing weeks of mountaintop dialogue between Moses and God, the people impatiently and irrationally called upon Aaron to "make us gods who shall go before us." (Ex. 32:1). Aaron melted down their golden jewelry and fashioned from it a golden calf. He proclaimed it to be their god who rescued them from Egyptian slavery and Israel worshiped it.
Knowing exactly what had transpired below, God told Moses to "go down" to the people who he described with cow-like language:
- They had "corrupted themselves" (32:7) like irrational animals often do, obeying their base impulses (cf. 2 Pet. 2:12).
- They were "stiff-necked" (32:9), a common phrase in the Bible used to describe a stubborn ox or donkey that refuses to respond to the rope when tugged.
- They had "turned aside quickly out of the way" (32:8) and had "broken loose" (32:25) like wild animals from their pen.
- Moses called and "gathered" them back to the "gate" (32:26) so that he might lead them (32:34) like a herd of cattle.
- Just as the cow was created in fire (32:24), so Israel would be destroyed by God's burning anger (32:10, 19-20).
- Israel proved to be just as spiritually empty and lifeless as the cow they bowed down to (32:27-35).
In this chapter, sinful Israel is depicted as a herd of rebellious cows that broke through their protective boundary and must be regathered for their own safety. The Israelites had become what they worshiped. This is still true today. When we give our allegiance to created things rather than the Creator we debase ourselves with animalistic thinking and behavior (cf. Rom. 1:18-32).
The following chapters (Ex. 33-34) show the other side of this coin. Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak to God on behalf of the people. He asked, "Please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight." (Ex. 33:13) Moses then asked, "Please show me your glory." (Ex. 33:18) These are worshipful requests and the tent of meeting was a place of worship. The result was that Moses became like the God he worshiped. Upon "seeing" the after-effects of God's glory as he passed by, Moses literally reflected it. "The skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God." (33:29) This reflected glory was so bright, the people were afraid to speak with Moses (34:30) and he was made to wear a veil over his face (33:33).
God both showed Moses his glory and described it to him in words he could understand (33:19; 34:6-7):
- God is "good"
- God is "gracious"
- God is "merciful"
- God is "slow to anger"
- God is "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"
- God keeps "steadfast love for thousands" (that is, for thousands of generations)
- God "[forgives] iniquity and trangression of sin"
- God is also just and "will by no means clear the guilty"
- In comparison to his loyal love to thousands of generations, God's justice extends to the "third and fourth generation"
God proved himself to be all of the above by changing his mind to destroy Israel and instead going with them (33:17). He promised to give them Sabbath rest (33:14). He even renewed the covenant which he made with Israel with a new set of tablets (34:1). And Moses, because he worshiped God, reflected God's character. His intercession for the people literally saved their lives (32:30-32; cf. Deut. 9:18-20).
We become what we worship. How much more so now that Jesus has come, the definitive self-disclosure of God (Jn. 1:1-3, 14, 18; 14:9; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:2-3). The reflected glory of Moses' face was fleeting (2 Cor. 3:13). Now that Christ has come, the veil has been lifted so that we may all, "with unveiled face" behold "the glory of the Lord." And as we behold his image in worship, we are "transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." (2 Cor. 3:18; cf. Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10, etc.)
When we look back at those two lists, we must ask ourselves which one describes us. We can say that we worship God but the proof is in what we reflect in our behavior. Israel said they worshiped the Lord... as they bowed down to a statue of a cow (Ex. 32:5). The way we know who we worship is by what we reflect. Our face may not glow like Moses' but God's character should be seen in us (Mt. 5:16). "Christ in us," that is, the Spirit of his character (Gal. 5:22-23), is our "hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).
A friend (Ryan Boyer) put it this way: "Are you corrupt or good? Are you stubborn or gracious and merciful? Do you break loose and wander off or do you forgive? Do you treat very broken people with the same degree of grace, mercy, love and forgiveness as God? What we revere we resemble either for ruin or restoration."
