You remember that Moses has just come down the mountain with the Ten Commandments that God had given the people, only to find the people worshipping a golden calf, that they had created in his absence, to worship. 

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”  “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” Exodus 32:19-24.

When confronted by Moses, Aaron, who was largely responsible for this whole fiasco, gave Moses a classic line. The people were complaining, he said, so he told them to take off their gold jewelry and Aaron collected it and threw it in the fire and by some strange miracle, out came this calf. All by itself was the implication. 

Now as they say in the south, “That dog don’t hunt.” This was not some spontaneous act of miracle. Aaron had fashioned a calf and formed it in the fire. This was a deliberate act of disobedience against God. But we have an endless capacity to justify our actions when they are not right, so Aaron says, “Hey, don’t blame me, I just tossed the gold into the fire and out came this calf.” As my wife, who is from the Philippines, would say, “That is boola boola”. I think you get the drift.

We have an endless capacity to justify our actions when we know them to be wrong. We make excuses, talk about extenuating circumstances, and find reasons for our actions. I can laugh at Aaron’s excuses here but I know I have done the same thing myself. 

In 1 John 1:8-9 we read this, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Like Aaron and the Israelites, we are sinners and do wrong things. Instead of denying our reality, John says, confess your sins and he will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness.

There is no need to hide from God, and we cannot, but there is no reason to. He stands ready to purify us, forgive us and make our hearts clean. All we need to do is to confess our sins.

Father, I have an endless capacity to justify my sinful actions. I ask today that you would help me simply confess my sins, take responsibility, and allow you to purify me from all unrighteousness. Amen.

If you are reading through Exodus, as we do this series, ready chapters 24 and 25 for tomorrow.