Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, October 12, 2012 Read – Exodus 32:1-33:6 The story of the golden calf is probably familiar to most of us. The story is important for a few reasons. First of all it demonstrates how quickly and easily God’s people forget. We are not going to read the books of Leviticus and Numbers because they are books that simply bog down readers. But they do tell a story of people who are continually “stiff-necked” and rebellious. God has a big task in trying to lead and teach the creature God created. The human story is not a pretty one. We can let one story – the golden calf – suffice to illustrate the depth of human rebellion. The golden calf is also important because of its allusion to some calves that will play an important part in the story later – the calves that King Jeroboam placed and Bethel and Dan when the kingdom divided. When we read that story we will need to remember this one. Finally, the golden calf story illustrates how challenging it is to worship a God we cannot see. The people ask Aaron to make them a god they can see. We want things we can see too. Most of the time we do not see – at least not much – but God calls us to faith that is not about seeing. Faith is about trusting God.