“Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?’” (Exodus 32:21)

The truth was, the people didn’t actually “do” anything to Aaron. At least it wasn’t like they had stoned or tortured him. Verse 1 says they merely “assembled about Aaron” and said “Come, make us a god.”  It was just what we might call “peer pressure.”

And isn’t that often all it takes with us too?When we compromise God’s ways, or hesitate to speak about Him, someone might direct Moses’ same question to us: “What did this people DO to you?” — to keep you from witnessing, or compromising your standards, or whatever. And the truth is, we would have have to say that they didn’t even “do” anything to us — at least not anything like what our brother and sisters in some places in the world are suffering right now. All that we’ve experienced is a little bit of “peer pressure” — and sometimes not even that much! — but sadly, just like Aaron, it has been enough to defeat us. Many of us would have to sadly admit that we have stood up no better than he did.