Tammuz - Month for True Worship

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The Church may not realize this, but the fourth month on the Hebrew calendar, called Tammuz, is one of spiritual warfare where we must defend our souls. The enemy of our souls looks for weak spots or places where we or our ancestors compromised and attempts to take advantage of us. At sunset on June 15, we entered the month of Tammuz. Let us look back in history to see what was happening in Tammuz a few months after the Israelites came out of Egypt. After a long trek from Egypt to Mount Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God. Exodus 32 tells the story: "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me...' And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' So, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it..." (Exodus 32:1-5 - NKJV)
 
The building of the golden calf stemmed from a grievance rooted in the hearts of God's people. The bottom line is they did not trust Him although He demonstrated His faithfulness multiple times throughout their journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Here is the reason why God told the Israelites, many times, "Remember." Exodus 13:3 is an example. "Then Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the Lord brought you out from there by strength of hand.'" (ESV) Had the Israelites remembered the way they came out of Egypt, they may have rethought their sin of building the golden calf. Exodus 12:36 tells us that the Israelites "plundered the Egyptians." They simply asked for their gold and received it without a fight.
 
Here is the lesson from this story that we need to take to heart: When God gives us plunder as we are coming out of our own Egypt, we must not use it to make an idol for a lower form of worship. We were all made with a need to worship. God's desire is for us to worship Him alone because this fosters greater intimacy with Him. When we use the gifts He gives us to make idols for worship, He is greatly grieved. Tammuz is the month for heightened alertness. We cannot allow the enemy to entice us to take our eyes off the Lord and His promises. We must be patient and never settle for inferior forms of worship. When we build idols, they bring curses and desolation upon us and cause God's manifest presence to leave.
 
This call to "remember" is not only important for us as individuals, but also for our churches and our nation. We cannot forget the battles we fought, the blessings we have received, and the prophetic words spoken over us. We need to remember the snare of the golden calf so that we do not use the plunder God gave us to build an inferior idol to worship. God is faithful and will bring His promises to life at the perfect time and in the perfect way.
 
A segment of our society would like to erase the past so that they can alter the future. If we rewrite the past, we can rewrite the future. If the foundations of God are removed, then we can build on new and ungodly foundations. We cannot allow this to happen! We must "fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Our worship of the One True God will demonstrate our faithfulness to Him and our remembrance of His faithfulness to us. Let's make this month one of radical worship to Adonai, The Lord Our God!