Exodus 32:7-10 (ESV)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

God will relent from this plan – and He knows that he will – but this kind of talk is just chilling. It displays God’s perspective in a way that’s both frightening and humbling.

There are lots of adjectives we can use to describe people: fallen, sinful, selfish, greedy, stupid, violent, impulsive, illogical, angry, I could go on.

But here we see a ghastly new one – replaceable. We like to think that we’re unique, that the world would be lacking something without us. We derive some of our self-worth from this. We recoil from the idea that we are interchangeable.

The Bible speaks to our uniqueness.

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. – 1 Corinthians 12:20-24a

Yet, here God announces His willingness to wipe out the entire nation of Israel. He can make a great nation of Moses with a snap of His fingers. Why put up with these clowns? They’re not worth the work, especially given that they’re disposable.

This makes Jesus’s trip to the cross all the more surprising. God has options we don’t like to think about.

Being replaceable doesn’t interfere with our ability to glorify Him. One of the key ways we can do that is through “secret service” – performing low-profile tasks. Those are the little things that don’t get much attention. While we don’t notice them, God does. We usually only notice when something goes wrong.

So, remember to pray for the folks who do their works virtually in secret – things like clean up after Sunday school, prepare communion, work in the nursery, go on visitations, run sound in worship, etc.

Pick out one or two people who fill these vital but underappreciated shoes and lift them up for a special blessing. Ask God to encourage them and energize them.

And encourage them yourself.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies