Those people make me crazy!

So, as I'm reading through Exodus God has revealed to me another part of His wonderful sense of humor.  The Israelites have every reason in the World to be wholeheartedly following God.  Look what He did for them in Egypt!  He saved them from their bondage and did it in a very big, bold way.  There is no doubt that God was showing His people and the Egyptians just a glimpse of how much power He possesses.  Then, they are led out of Israel and through the desert by a cloud of fire and or smoke.  God goes into great detail laying out a plan for a place that He would dwell and His people could come to Him.  As I have been reading I just keep thinking, God, you love them so much.  Which is absolutely true and He makes His love for them very clear. 

Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai to meet with God and get some more direction on how they are to uphold their half of the covenant and is gone for forty days (and nights).  And, wait for it, they forget all about God.  Oh, it makes me insane!  I just want to jump up and shout at them to quit being morons.  All I can think is God has done so much for you and you are going to break His heart!  As they offer up their gold and prized possessions (that no doubt could have been used for the Tabernacle) to an image they are making, I just want to go through the pages and scream at them to not forget so quickly what God has done for them. How dare they treat Him with such disregard after all He had done for them. 

He chose them.  He loved them.  He was with them.  But, because they didn't hear from Him like they were used to for forty days they were jumping ship.  They were going to make their own god, follow their own rules, and live life their own way.  As I'm crying out to God about how ridiculous the Israelites were and how I can't believe they would just forget Him before forty days is even up, He reminds me of the times I've forgotten Him.  See, the kicker is, He chose me, He loves me, He is with me.  He gave up Heaven, took on flesh, came to the Earth He created only to be mocked by the very people He created and carried a cross for me.  He sent His Spirit to live within me, not in a building or a tent, but WITHIN me!  Yet, if I don't get what I think I need from God or it doesn't work out like I think it should, Oh how often I jump ship and try to figure my own plan out.  I'm no different than the Israelites that make me so crazy.  I struggle with trying to make God be who I want Him to be instead of worshiping Him in who He is!

I love how God describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7 after Moses is begging for God to give the Israelites another chance, it beautifully encompasses just who God is (as it should, He said it!)

"Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, The Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding loingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgreassion and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

And Moses' response is one we should all seek to practice (v. 8) "Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship."  When you realize the punishment you deserve and see the grace you receive, there really is no other response.