Daily Devotional-Exodus 32:1–6 Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Daily Devotional (Transcript)
Exodus 32:1–6
Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Speaker: Pastor John Chen
Transcribed & Edited by: Joseph Wang(Yufan)

Peace to you, dear brothers and sisters.

By the grace of God, we come to a new day to study our daily devotional. Today’s passage is Exodus 32:1–6.

Opening Prayer

O God, have mercy on us. Forgive and pardon our sins. We are so vain and so prone to making idols for ourselves. We so often refuse to worship You, the one true and living God. Forgive us, Lord. Even this morning, let us see how willing You are to love us, and lead us to follow You rather than idols. Be with us, we pray.

In the name of Christ, Amen.

The Golden Calf and the Impatience of the Human Heart

After chapter 31, where God completed His instructions concerning the tabernacle, chapter 32 immediately exposes the corruption of Israel once again. When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered together to Aaron and said, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us.”

Moses had been on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. For the people, this waiting became unbearable. At first, they could endure a short delay—but prolonged waiting revealed what was truly in their hearts. Instead of trusting God and waiting upon Him, they chose to take matters into their own hands.

Aaron took the gold from the people and fashioned a golden calf with a graving tool. This was not accidental. It was deliberate and intentional. Then the people declared, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” Aaron even proclaimed a feast “to the LORD.”

Here we must observe something carefully. On the surface, it appears that Israel did not deny the LORD outright. They still claimed to worship Yahweh. Yet they violated the second commandment by making an image to represent Him.

This teaches us something crucial: idolatry is not only about worshiping false gods. It is also about worshiping the true God in false ways.

Why God Forbids Images

God had already spoken clearly in the Ten Commandments. Israel knew they were forbidden to make any image of God. They had agreed to obey all that the LORD commanded. Why then did they still do this?

Because the fallen human heart craves what is visible and tangible.

Human beings want something they can see, touch, and control. Waiting upon God requires faith. Idols eliminate waiting. They give an illusion of control and a false sense of peace.

But God strictly forbids this because He calls His people to live by faith, not by sight. He does not accommodate human corruption. True faith is rooted in God’s Word, not in human imagination.

False Faith vs. Saving Faith

Idol worship also involves a kind of “faith,” but it is a false faith. It is faith generated by human desire, human effort, and human imagination. It resembles the world’s idea of faith: “If I believe strongly enough, I will succeed.”

Biblical faith is fundamentally different.

Saving faith clings to the promises of God revealed in Scripture.
Its object is real, not imagined.
Its source is God, not human willpower.
Its fruit is holiness, repentance, and conformity to Christ—not self-exaltation.

This is why God demands that His people trust His Word rather than their eyes.

Idolatry and False Peace

The Israelites experienced a kind of peace after making the golden calf. They ate, drank, and rose up to play. This peace felt real—but it was false. It did not come from reconciliation with God, but from self-deception.

Calvin rightly observed that the human heart is a perpetual factory of idols. We are constantly producing substitutes for God—whether they are images, success, wealth, power, or even self-worship.

False peace can feel convincing. But it never lasts. It fades, and the emptiness returns.

A Call to True Faith

God calls us away from visible idols and into true faith—a faith grounded in His Word, secured by the blood of Christ, and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

Today we focused only on verses 1–6, yet even this brief passage exposes the seriousness of idolatry and the vast difference between false faith and saving faith.

May God have mercy on us, lead us out of vain worship, and teach us to trust Him by faith and not by sight.

That is all for today. Thank you.