At first glance, the sins that brought the children of Israel down in the wilderness don't seem to have any rhyme or reason. But a closer examination reveals that the root problem was a lack of relationship with the true and living God.
When Moses was temporarily taken out of the scene when he went to meet with God on Mt. Sinai, the people wanted something to take his place. It was only a matter of time until they were bowing before a golden calf.
When you get down to it, Moses was their first idol, and the golden calf was their second. Moses was like God to them, so when Moses was gone, they created a god of their own making.
We do the same when we start remaking God in our own image. When we give God a 21st-century makeover, when we make God politically correct, when we start changing His Word to fit the perverted morals of our time, this becomes idolatry. We are remaking God because we are not comfortable with what He says. We don't like His standards. Thus, if we can remake God in our image, we can live the way that we want to and do as we please.
We want a celestial salad bar where we can casually stroll up, choose the attributes of God that most appeal to us, and leave the rest behind. It's religion á la carte.
When we mold God and His Word into our image, it is as much an act of idolatry as it was when the children of Israel worshiped the golden calf.
