It’s Not My Fault!
by Philip Asselin
Aaron makes an incredible statement in Exodus 32:24. “They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” If you read the first 4 verses of the same chapter you’ll find that Aaron, under pressure from the people, asked for gold jewellery, melted it down and fashioned the idol himself. Yet, now under pressure from Moses, he pretends to be incredulous as to how it all happened. “It’s not my fault”, is the heart of his response.
It’s quite amazing what we (and I include myself here) will do when put under pressure. We can look and sound good when all is going well. We can be a church leader, elder, Life Group leader, or worship leader, we can have seen first hand some amazing miracles from God (as Aaron had done), but when things start to get difficult and we have to make a decision whether to stand up for God or not, the true character of our heart is made known. Then we can compound the sin by trying to pretend it wasn’t really our fault. How many golden calves have ‘just emerged’ from the fires of our own making?
Sadly, in the process of deceiving others, we deceive ourselves. We believe the lie that “it’s not my fault”. We blame-shift and can sometimes (like Aaron) not stop to think how ridiculous we’re sounding.
Aaron didn’t fool Moses. We may fool others, but we can’t fool God. If we really want to face the truth, if we really want to serve God wholeheartedly, without fear of what others might say or do or think, we have to go to the heart of the matter. It all comes down to really knowing God personally.
Maybe Aaron’s relationship with God was piggy backing on the one that Moses had. The problem is that never really works. We can’t have a real relationship with God through our parents, a good Christian friend, great Bible expositors, or wonderful church leaders. We have to know God for ourselves.
Daniel, talking about the last days, writes ‘With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him’ (Daniel 11:32). It comes down to whether we really, really know God in the depth of our being. If we do, then we’ll be able to say as David(Psalm 62:6).
Prayer: Dear Lord, please forgive me for letting You down when the going gets tough. I realise that many times I have said or thought, “It’s not my fault”, when many times it has been. I realise that, in trying to fool others, I’ve often fooled myself. I want to change. I want to become the person You’ve chosen and called me to be. I want a deeper personal relationship with you, to know that I really know You for myself, not through others, but personally. Holy Spirit, I turn my whole life over to You and ask that You change me from within, so that my will becomes Your will. Amen.
Philip Asselin Philip is on the associate ministry and teaching teams with Glyndley Manor. He and his wife Gillian attended the second Healing Retreat at Glyndley Manor in 1992, and were greatly helped. They have two grown up children, one grandson, and a step-granddaughter in California, and a daughter and granddaughter in Eastbourne. His desire is to see people healed and set free to serve God.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
