The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.” (Ex. 32:1, CEB)

Israel defaulted to what they knew. They had been slaves for hundreds of years. They grew impatient after a few days. When they grew impatient, they defaulted to what they knew: idols. They did not yet know Yahweh like they could.

Often in our own prayer times we get impatient because we haven’t taken the time to know God. Then, when he doesn’t show up on our time schedule, we are tempted to go back to our default position. We connive. We manipulate. We work things out with our own skill.

We need to take the time in prayer to know God first. Moses was allowed to know God. Why? He asked.

“Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight.” (Ex. 33:13, NRSV)

The nature of the Kingdom is to ASK. It is also in the nature of the Kingdom to take your time to know God.