THEME: Let’s Remember this November.

By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

In shock, I looked at the golden calf last night. Dramatically built at the foot of  Mount Sinai with Israelites dancing around it. Just two nights earlier, I read to my 3-and 5-year old the story of how God opened a path for the Israelites to walk through the Red Sea. Also how God provided manna and quails for the Israelites before He spoke to them with thunder and lightning from Mount Sinai. It is almost unthinkable how these people who experienced the miracles, provision and God's power, could build and worship a golden calf - at the very foot of the mountain where they met with God days earlier!

I wonder if we don’t do exactly the same thing in our lives. We experience a supernatural miracle and share it with everyone we encounter. Then, months later, we are experiencing another crisis. This time, it’s bigger and it seems as if God remains quiet. We pray. Time passes. And, just like the Israelites, we start to look for ways to “break the silence”, bear the pain and sort out the situation. Many times, we turn to a friend, a psychiatrist or medication. Is it wrong to seek help? No. It is wrong when we start to rely on people or medication rather than God for help. If we do, we are building a golden calf in our lives – and God hates it. 

In Mark 12:30 Jesus talks about the most important commandment:  ^“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." In Matthew 15: 8, we are reminded that God doesn’t just listen to our words, but He looks at our hearts:  “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” And in Revelation 2: 4 we read: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

Who is this God you serve? May we remind ourselves that He desires to be first in our lives. He longs for us to look at Him for a breakthrough and listen for His voice. He wants to sit on the throne of your heart and not compete with golden calves in our lives.

In this Remember November-series, I want us to be reminded of who this God is we serve and who He wants to be for each of us. Feel free to chat on Facebook, Stories van Hoop page or e-mail me to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Your contribution is important. God bless.

Father God, thank you for speaking to  me and letting me know that you are ruling my life. Please show me through your Holy Spirit if there is any golden calf in my life that I have to destroy so that I can say, I love you with all my heart and soul and mind. I ask it in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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