Friday, June 12, 2026
Acts 7:35-43
35 “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’ 38 He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ 41 At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to me slain victims and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 No; you took along the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’
I think that sometimes being a parent is a little like being Moses. We’re called out of comfort to be prophets to a stiff-necked, rarely receptive people—yearning for freedom, but not always willing to do what it takes to get there.
Or maybe it’s just me.
In the early verses of today’s passage, Stephen names how Israel rejected Moses’ leadership, asking, “Who made you a ruler and a judge?” They didn’t want to keep following him toward deliverance. Instead, they pleaded for the broken—but predictable—life they had back in Egypt.
They longed for that old life so deeply that when Moses went up to speak with the Lord, they made a golden calf—something visible and controllable—to worship instead. In other words, they had promised-land goals, but Egypt practices.
One of the hard parts of parenting—and pastoring—is helping someone see that their current practices won’t lead to the life they say they want. My kids want to be healthy, but they don’t want to wear coats. They want to be good at sports, but they don’t want to practice. They want good grades, but they don’t want to study. And we do the same thing spiritually: we want to follow Jesus, but we resist spending time with him. We want the fruit of the Spirit, but we don’t want to plant seeds, water them, or pull the weeds.
No—our effort isn’t what saves us. Thanks be to God. But as our lives begin to mirror the life of our Savior, we start to taste the freedom he promises. So what do you need to leave behind in Egypt? And what “promised-land practices” do you sense God inviting you to adopt in the days ahead?
– Pr. Jason
Jesus, give me the courage to let you lead me away from the familiar brokenness in my life. Show me that there is life and life to the full in your presence, living life in your way. Amen.
