Have You Been Pressured Into Doing Something You Did Not Want to Do?

You did not want to do it, but you were pressurised into doing it?

We find a similar account in scripture.
Moses went up to the mount and the people thought that he would not return. So, they pressurised Aaron into making a calf.

The whole account can be found in Exodus 32.
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The children of Israel pressured Aaron to build a calf for them. 

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 “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods[a] 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.’
2 Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.’ 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, ‘These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. ( Exodus 32: 1- 5)’ 

We can see from the above account that it was the people that told Aaron to make gods for them. The scripture tells us from the above account that “they gathered around Aaron and said”.

Can you image that multitude of people gathering around one person?  There would be no way for Aaron to escape. Moses did not go up with a mobile phone that he could have asked Moses “how far”. We can see that Aaron was put under pressure. Aaron responded to their request as we can see from the above scriptures and made the calf for them.

When Moses came down from the mount, only Moses told Aaron off. Aaron then explained to Moses.
We can see from the response Aaron was put under pressure to do what he did.

 “21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
22 So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out (Exodus 32: 21- 24).

What is very interesting about this account is that in the eyes of the Lord, it was the people that made the calf not Aaron.

“And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made” (Exodus 32: 35).

Did you see that?

The Lord plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made. In other words, they did it through Aaron.

God sees the heart and only He is the just judge. Yes Moses also had to pray for Aaron because of what Aaron did by yielding to the people ( Deuteronomy 9: 20). We can see that both Aaron and the people where responsible for the image, not just Aaron. 

Have you been pressurised to do something that you did not want to do?  Depending on the circumstances, you may still need to ask the Lord to forgive you for yielding to the pressure instead of putting your foot down and say no.
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But remember that the Lord sees everything. Don’t beat up yourself, just ask the Lord to forgive you and He will and make sure you forgive yourself.
 
Copyright© ​ Bisi Oladipupo 8th March 2024 

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