He Failed His Brother

And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? Exodus 32:21.
Aaron endeavored to shield himself by relating the clamors of the people…. But his excuses and prevarications were of no avail….
The fact that Aaron had been blessed and honored so far above the people was what made his sin so heinous. It was Aaron “the saint of the Lord” (Psalm 106:16), that had made the idol and announced the feast. It was he who had been appointed as spokesman for Moses, and concerning whom God Himself had testified, “I know that he can speak well” (Exodus 4:14), that had failed to check the idolaters in their heaven-daring purpose. He by whom God had wrought in bringing judgments both upon the Egyptians and upon their gods, had heard unmoved the proclamation before the molten image, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” It was he who had been with Moses on the mount, and had there beheld the glory of the Lord, who had seen that in the manifestation of that glory there was nothing of which an image could be made—it was he who had changed that glory into the similitude of an ox. He to whom God had committed the government of the people in the absence of Moses, was found sanctioning their rebellion. “The Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him” (Deuteronomy 9:20). But in answer to the earnest intercession of Moses, his life was spared: and in penitence and humiliation for his great sin, he was restored to the favor of God.
If Aaron had had courage to stand for the right, irrespective of consequences, he could have prevented that apostasy. If he had unswervingly maintained his own allegiance to God, if he had cited the people to the perils of Sinai, and had reminded them of their solemn covenant with God to obey His law, the evil would have been checked. But his compliance with the desires of the people and the calm assurance with which he proceeded to carry out their plans, emboldened them to go to greater lengths in sin than had before entered their minds….
Of all the sins that God will punish, none are more grievous in His sight than those that encourage others to do evil..
Courage and Conflict p.98
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Prayer Requests
—–update—Eileen is home. Surgery went well. Please pray for a speedy recovery. Rose
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Dear Friends,
Emma and Peter look forward to their grandpa’s coming home at night. As soon as he gets home they run and hide, so he will try to find them. Of course at ages 3 and 4, that’s pretty easy. It reminds me of when our children were little, they used to love to have us play hide-and-seek with them. Most of the time, this was played in the house as a rainy-day game. When they were very little, they would hide in some rather obvious spots just like our grandchildren do now, but we would pretend not to see them for awhile. They would crouch down and giggle, so it was very easy to find them. When it was our turn to hide, we would have to find an easy spot for them to find us. How happy they would be when they saw us. Ron always made it more fun by pretending to run back to “base” but making sure that he was running slow enough for them to catch him.
The Bible tells of a family who spent a lot of time with “hide-and-seek, only this was no game. Being found would have fatal consequences. The last half of 1 Samuel tells about this sad “game.” So much of David’s life was spent hiding from his father-in-law, Saul. During this time, he had a lot of time to think. His relationship with God was top priority. He knew that at any time Saul could find him and that would be the end of him and many of the men who followed him. As David thought upon his life, he remembered the many times God had protected him in the past. He acknowledged that his strength came from God. He loved God supremely and praised and worshipped Him with his whole heart. He had acted in accordance with God’s will and had turned from every evil way, yet, problems and trials did not go away. Even though he stayed close to His Creator, his father-in-law still hunted him like a wild animal. Through it all, he determined to serve God and had faith that the Great Redeemer would keep his feet from slipping. Through it all, God watched over him and protected him.