Exodus 33:5 For the Lord had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.'"
(The Lord reveals to His people the consequences, His judgment, of their sin. By choosing to turn away from Him, they had worshiped at the altar of an idol, something we still do today in our own way. Our idols may not be a literal golden calf, but we shape idols for ourselves still today, idols of affluence, the nicest home on the block, a hefty bank account, and titles that set us apart from others and draw people to us, or perhaps such negative forces as anger, fear, resentment, and refusing to forgive someone, or many other such "golden calves" that we create for ourselves and that take priority in our lives. Like the Israelites, we, too, are often stubborn and stiff-necked in our rebellious attitudes. By choosing to turn their back on the Lord, they separated themselves from God. At this point, He would not be able to remain in communion with them. In fact, sin makes such a great divide between God and man that the Lord mercifully protects the people from utter destruction by not allowing them to remain in His presence. He shelters them from the judgment inherent to His presence. He doesn't want His people to be destroyed. He wants them to repent and directs them to do just that. Depending on what they do, He makes a decision about the next steps. When we sin, the Lord is telling us the same thing today. Sin separates us from God, but He protects us from His holy judgment by providing a path back to Him,
a path of repentance on our part and forgiveness on His. He waits on us to allow us to exercise our free will to choose to repent. He makes His decisions about how He can further interact with us, make His forgiveness known to us, and weave our choices into His will for us once again.)
