After melting in a cauldron the golden trinkets of the people of Israel and forming an idol, Aaron justified the temporary lapse in his high priestly duties by pleading: “It came out a golden calf.” Berated by Moses, his brother, for the grievous error, Aaron could only resort to rationalized response. Moses had the calf reduced to powder, mixed with water, and ordered the people to drink it. Aaron may have taken the largest draft of all. Sorrow and judgment followed, but restoration also followed. Life went on. The event melted into the culture of the people.
We find it possible to assign God’s will favoring anything we believe helpful that we permit in ourselves and those around us. In the story of God’s Little Acre, an acre was set aside with its bounty to be dedicated to the Lord. The owner moved the acre site from place to place when he found that the bounty was greater than he had imagined for the dedicated land. The farmer had explanation why the new lesser site was better than the fertile old one, but for objective observers, his greed became apparent. He was trying for a reputation for giving, but accented his hypocrisy.
During the decades I served as a college professor and administrator, I learned the rationalizations of students to get what they wanted without admitting any weakness or wrong decision-making on their part. We knew that after some days there would be homesickness, or a feeling that classes were not going well, or some students were romantically attached to special persons back home and could not go on with the lonely events of intense academic life. They offered common rationalizations for dropping out: My parents need me at home. My funds are running low. My life is too limited. For example, on this last point, one student argued that she should be permitted to take only Bible courses, nothing of a secular nature. A semester after she dropped out of our college she enrolled in a Community College where there were no Bible Courses.
After marriage, I reentered college to complete a degree. The going got tough, and I went to see my advisor. I had no money, and neither did he. My wife and I had a new baby, and increased responsibility. I went to see my chairman with the idea of dropping out. He gave me only one bit of advice: Don’t quit. He didn’t solve my problems, but he did say: Don’t quit. I went to see him with the clear idea of quitting. I left an hour later knowing that I would not quit. Ultimately I earned a Doctor of Philosophy Degree at a major university. My future turned on that day.
We have this cowardly way about us that insists on dressing up circumstances of our lives with pseudo-intellectual reasoning. We want to give reasons for following the urges of our feelings. We seldom realize that mankind is more emotional than cerebral. We tend to favor our feelings. Feelings are fragile and furtive. They are not burly enough for the good/hard fight, to solve problems, to form the best in us – unless we take control of them. Once our minds and souls are strengthened through prayer, through making true inventories of our lives and opportunities, and through right actions that overcome urges of fear and repose – we find a way through (not out), so becoming the persons we are meant to be. So important was the process to Jesus, that he modeled it for us. That model was for all, as the Apostles eloquently argued when on their own. Don’t quit! We may transition to something else, but it ought to be clear – to what purpose? When we grow old we look back and feel great relief that in moments of retreat we gained the courage to press on, to find the high road that leads to the best ends for us. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020