May 31 - Day 7

As I approach the end of Exodus in today's reading I found myself skimming the reading at first. I've read it before and either the stories are familiar or I wasn't finding them that interesting. I stopped and prayed and returned to my reading by asking God to reveal to me what was He trying to express to me in this reading. And there was a lot!

As Moses went up the mountain to meet with God and he was receiving the instructions for building the tabernacle, they were given in such detail. God had only given Moses the stone tablets with the 10 commandments on them but nothing else was written down. So I wrote in the margin of my Bible, "How in the world does Moses remember all of this?" Then as the reading moved on, we see Moses relaying these instructions to the Israelites. And it is nearly identical to the instructions he received directly from God! Then later in the reading we see the Israelites actually building and constructing the tabernacle and the elements for worship. They adhere to the instructions exactly. I was amazed. Somehow Moses had to remember it and be able to instruct others to accomplish this. I was thinking Moses must be quite the man to remember all of this and manage this level of a project! But then something struck me... From chapter 39 on - at least 16 times a phrase is recorded that says "as the Lord commanded," or "as the Lord commanded Moses." 16 times!! At church Gary (our pastor) always says, if it is repeated... it is important! So I started pondering the significance of this phrase. At first I thought perhaps this is just reiterating that God gave Moses these commands on the mountain. Certainly God did command Moses then. Yet, I think there may be something more. Because after Moses received the instructions but before everything was built, scripture also tells us about Moses going to the Tent of Meeting, about God showing Moses His Glory, and how Moses would literally glow after meeting with God.

Moses had established the Tent of Meeting in Ex 33: 7. "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away..." Some distance away... Moses knew it was important to withdraw from the chaos and meet with God. It tells us that God would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Wow! So while Moses received the commands on the mountain once, he was also meeting regularly with God. I wonder what they were talking about? If it were me, I'd be asking God lots of questions about all these instructions making sure I got them all OK. Regardless of what they talked about, the principle I draw from this is that God's instructions may be given once, but it takes a consistent routine and a deliberate effort to have regular conversation with Him. In this ongoing dialogue, God will reveal to me what He wants me to do in precise detail. Though the task of building a tabernacle seems daunting when looked at in entirety, it is plausible that Moses was meeting with God on only one detail and one decision at a time. "Now what about that Ephod again? Is that a sapphire or a ruby that is supposed to go there? Oh yea, you said it should be an onyx. Thanks for correcting me..." I can just hear this conversation. Application to my life is this - when I look at the tasks God has laid before me or when I ponder my life's purpose and importance it seems daunting. How can I ever achieve all that He wants me to be? By taking them one decision and one action at a time and regularly meeting with My God on that issue I can expect that He will talk to me too. Yet I have to put Him first and put myself in a position - outside the camp - to hear His voice. I must be outside of my selfishness - outside my concerns - outside the distractions and noise of my daily grind. Where is my tent of meeting? Also, I cannot read His Word once (e.g. meet with Him once on the mountain), and expect that I'll retain it all. Yet the more regularly I consume His Word and the more regularly I ask Him about it, the more I'm giving Him a chance to help me prevent putting rubies in the place of onyx.

Second warning I received is from the Golden Calf incident. There are of course the usual applications from this story and I must admit, I know them but do I apply these warnings regularly? Do I have other gods before God? Am I fashioning an idol out of something I have in my life? These warnings beg that I apply them more, but this is not the new warning I received.

Exodus 32:27 says that after Aaron made his feeble excuse for why he allowed this to happen, Moses called everyone together and asked for those who were "for the Lord" to come to him. He then further asked them to become an instrument of God's judgment and kill brothers, friends and neighbors - presumably those who participated in the Golden Calf folly. 3000 people died as a result! No matter how bad things have been in my life and how much I knew someone else was lost in their sin, I can't imagine what it would be like if God told me I had to kill them because of their rebellion towards Him. Now come with me as I try to apply this to today's world. Not the killing of brothers directly, but the fact that if you have any god before God, He will get even. He is a jealous God. The instruments of His judgement are many and may come from areas we might never suspect. How many people today around our society snub their nose at the very mention of God -- let alone placing Him above all else in their life?? How many people let something or someone else become their god or their idol? God has told us from the beginning that this is not just dangerous ground but deadly ground. I see that as more and more people ignore His warnings, His creation is groaning displaying His judgement on a decaying society. The only hope we have is for those in His protection to call sin by its rightful name and ask those lost in their own Golden Calf Folly to repent. To return to Him and acknowledge Him as God. I certainly don't want to be asked to kill anyone I care about (neighbor, father, son, etc.) but isn't that what I'm doing by allowing them to continue to live in their sin without helping point them to Jesus? Who will I attempt to introduce to Jesus today so they can know God as their God?