THURSDAY
In this text we see in Aaron a really good example of a really bad repentance.
Exodus 32:19-26 19 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. 20 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.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 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.’ 24 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!”
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
Let’s dissect this really bad repentance:
- First he tries to placate Moses up by calling him “my lord” (v. 22). A little buttering up never hurts when you’ve been caught red handed.
- Then he deflects the blame from himself onto the people (vv. 22-23). This is the most common response to being caught in sin. We make a desperate attempt to redirect the blame for our sin onto someone else. This is as old as the biblical story itself, as Adam and Eve did the same in the garden.
- Finally, he greatly minimizes his part (v. 24). This one is even comical. He just threw the gold into the fire and this calf came out! Sure, pal!
This response is one that I see almost daily in my home with my children. Ellie is just learning to placate me with soft words when she wants something, but in an argument she’s usually too mad to try that tactic. They both deflect the blame onto each other and say things like: “He started it.” “Well, she said this so of course I said that back.” As adults we sometimes get a little more sophisticated with our deflections, but they are excuses nonetheless. We say things like: “I’m just tired and stressed because of work and being so busy,” or “This was the only way to get the outcome I wanted,” or “What I did wasn’t that bad. It could have been worse.” That last one is what we often say when we are trying to minimize our part. In marriage counseling it is quite common for both parties to put the majority of the blame on the other person then say something general like, “Well, I’m not perfect, but…”. This is an attempt to minimize their part.
This is our natural instinct when we are caught in sin. We do whatever we can to get ourselves out of it. As children we all did this, but we should be maturing out of this response and into repentance. Repentance is a sign of spiritual maturity in your life. It seems counterintuitive but there is a real freedom in repentance. When we repent, we walk in the truth so we have nothing to hide. We don’t feel the need to live in this false identity, attempting to control how others perceive us. That’s exhausting! When we repent, we realign ourselves to God’s way. Sin leaves us out of alignment with the way of Jesus.* Only by repentance can we course correct and realign ourselves with God.
*I owe this illustration to Rob Reimer in Soul Care.
Reflection
When you are caught doing something wrong or convicted of doing something wrong, take notice of your immediate response. Can you own up to your sin or do you try to blame someone else? Do you minimize your faults and emphasize others faults? Or do you truthfully take responsibility for your sin? Think of a recent situation where you had to put this into practice. How did you do?
Be real with yourself. God already knows, so you’re not fooling him. You’re only fooling yourself and trying to fool others around you. The practice of repentance will help you learn to discern the lies you tell yourself and help you more quickly realign yourself with God.
When you’ve finished examining a past situation spend some time in repentance.