(Un)Righteous

A couple of days ago I was reading in Exodus 34, and I was struck by the very first verse I read.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'" (emphasis added)

I was immediately angry for Moses. Which he broke? Seriously, yeah he threw them down, but it was because Aaron and the people of Israel made a golden calf to worship!! God delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He literally parted a sea for them, and still they are so impatient that in the time Moses is up on the mountain speaking to the Lord, they turn to idol worship. I would've thrown down the tablets, too! But that's not MY fault, it's the people's fault. Their sin was bigger than mine.

But all sin is equal in the eyes of God.

James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."

In the gospel of Matthew Jesus is recorded saying, "'Or how can you say to your brother 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?'"

Earlier in Exodus Moses' sin is exposed, "As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." Exodus 32:19

I'm not arguing that Moses was unjust in his anger. It's difficult to see anyone sin against the Lord, but even more so when they're people you love or people you lead. Sometimes these emotions are founded in righteous anger and a Godly sorrow, sometimes their founded in pride. But even righteous anger can be acted on in a sinful way.

I don't condone idol worship at all, but Moses was far from blame himself. He sinned so greatly in his anger that he literally threw the work of God in the dirt (Exodus 32:15), the writing was the writing of God (32:16), written in stone with the finger of God (31:18)... and he burned so hot that he broke the tablets that God himself just wrote on.

I can't even fathom an equivalent, the closest I can imagine is being angry at my roommates for sinning and rather than walking away and praying, or taking my anger to God, or rebuking them later when I was of the right mind, it would be like me ripping my Bible in two, right in front of them. As if to say, "The word of God? Psh. My anger and my feelings are more important than that."

But so often when I sin out of righteous anger I choose to forget the first part. It's righteous anger, not sin. I did it for you, God! They're worse than me. I did this for you!

And so when I receive my just punishment for my sin I want to throw a fit. I say I'm being persecuted for righteousness sake. But I'm not, I'm being punished and disciplined for my own sin. And more importantly, for my own good.

Praise God that I have a Savior whose sacrifice covered everyone's sins once and for all. Praise God that He gave us His one and only Son and saw him brutally hung on a cross like a criminal as atonement for all of our sins. Past, present, and future.

Romans 5:18-19 says, ^"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."

I am so thankful that despite my stubborn, angry, sinful nature, the Lord always uses His word to teach me and prune me and grow me. And I'm so thankful that the Lord still loves me even when I sin against him by judging his children (my fellow brothers and sisters) and thinking I'm better than them. And I'm thankful that when I'm too blind to see my own sin, or too stubborn and embarrassed to own up to it, that he bluntly reminds me, "You broke my tablets."

God doesn't sugarcoat this or try to appease Moses when he returns. He's not worried about Moses' feelings, he's worried about Moses' godliness. He doesn't say, "...the first tablets which you broke, because of this horrible Israelites." The full weight of the responsibility is put on Moses.

The full weight of responsibility for my actions is on me. Sometimes I break God's tablets. Sometimes I throw His written word into the dirt. Praise God that while my sin is my responsibility, Jesus already took care of it, and teaches me how to do the same everyday.