In Their Hearts They Turned Back to Egypt

Let’s take a walk with Stephen for a moment. In Acts 7:39-41, he’s preaching a sermon so sharp, so bold, so full of truth that the religious leaders can feel it slicing through their spiritual comfort. He reaches all the way back to Moses and says, “Y’all haven’t changed.”

And here’s why:
You don’t have to pack your bags and move to Egypt to go back to Egypt. Your heart can travel there by itself.

While Moses climbed the mountain to meet with God, the people got restless. Impatient. Unsettled. Forty days felt too long. So instead of waiting on the God who delivered them, they ran back to the gods who enslaved them.

And Stephen says, right in their faces, “You’re doing it too.”

They honored Moses with their lips but rejected the Messiah Moses promised.
They loved the temple but ignored the God who fills the temple.
They claimed the Law while crucifying the Lawgiver.

That’s idolatry.
Not a golden calf made of metal, but a golden calf molded in the heart.

And before we shake our heads at Israel or Stephen’s audience, we’ve got to look in the mirror. Because idolatry didn’t stop with them. It lives wherever the human heart loves anything more than God.

Let me give you three quick realities that Stephen highlights:

1. Idolatry starts in the heart.

Before Israel ever shaped the calf, they shaped the desire. When the heart turns, the feet will follow.

2. Idolatry is a transfer of trust.

“Make us gods who will go before us.”
Translation: “We’d rather trust what we can control rather than wait on the God who controls everything.”

3. Idolatry rejoices in the wrong thing.

Stephen says they rejoiced in the work of their hands. Idolatry always celebrates the substitute.

Let me ask you: Where is your heart drifting?
Who or what are you trusting to “go before you?”
What gets your worship, God or the work of your own hands?

Israel didn’t need a new god. They needed a new heart.
And so do we.

Part Two coming next: How to break free from the idols that drain you and return to the God who satisfies.