When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. – Exodus 32:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 11, 2018): Exodus 32

The date September 11 has become filled with meaning. As I write this, I am seventeen years separated from the events of that Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. I still remember the events. I remember watching the television and trying to figure out the meaning behind that first plane’s collision with the World Trade Center when the second plane collided with the second tower. For me, that was the moment that I realized that something significant was taking place. I also remember the empty skies that followed that day, probably the only moment in my life in which there was nothing in the air above my head except wildlife. I think it is very fair to say that on that day everything changed.

And one thing that changed drastically after the attacks was our concept of war. Up until that moment, war something that was fought, for those of us in North America almost always someplace else, between two belligerent forces. And usually, these forces wore uniforms which identified them. Now, the soldiers looked much like everyone else, and those on the receiving end of the attack were not involved in any kind of military action. The change has continued. Terror came home, and terrorists now could surround us. Seventeen years after September 11, 2001, we still feel the effects. Even I, who work hard not to see others with prejudiced eyes, have to admit that sometimes I look at a person and wonder if there is terror in their hearts. Before the events of September 11, 2001, the enemy was other, outside, and identifiable. After the September 11 attacks, the enemy was suddenly within, and maybe even the person next door.

As I read this passage, I understand Moses’s anger and severe disappointment. Up until this time, Israel’s enemy was Egypt. The potential enemies were the nations that surrounded Canaan and might not receive this band of slaves willingly, and of course the inhabitants of Canaan itself. The land might have been promised to Abraham, Abraham had never fully conquered the land. At the time, his family was simply too small. Now the family was much larger and returning to the land of Abraham. They were going to go to Canaan and make themselves a home by occupying the land – all the land.

But as Moses emerged off of the mountain, all of that changed. This was his September 11. As he watched the singing and dancing around the Golden Calf, an act that was encouraged by leaders that Moses trusted, suddenly the enemy was within Israel. The building of the Calf was a terrorist attack that destroyed the trust of a nation in the God and the leader that had led them out of slavery. And the attack came from within.

We will face opposition in our lives, but the most damaging opposition that we face is the opposition that originates from inside us because it threatens all the good that we might be able to accomplish. It tears us away from trust in God, which can only destroy our lives.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 33