Friday Thought – August 28, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

The tabernacle was a marvelous building. It may have been the most exquisitely designed and constructed tent in the history of the world. The materials used in its construction were added up and came to 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold (Exodus 38:24); 100 talents and 1,775 shekels of silver (Exodus 38:25); 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze (Exodus 38:29). In addition to these valuable metals, the finest of wood and yarn and skins were used for the tabernacle, its furnishings, and the garments worn by the priests.

What made the tabernacle most marvelous was not the quality of the materials used to construct it. It was when the presence of God enveloped it.

“Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:33-35)

God gave clear and complete instructions about the tabernacle. God gave its design to Moses. God told Moses how it was to be constructed. The people followed those instructions precisely. The reason for the finest quality materials and the most skilled labor to put it all together was not that God only dwells in the finest places. The reason behind the details of the construction was to test the hearts of the people. God was testing their willingness to obey Him and to sacrifice for Him.

The truth is, even the most ordinary places are made special by the presence of the Lord. No story from history makes that point more clearly than the Christmas story! An animal’s feeding trough for a bed, a barn for a house, and peasants for parents. All made marvelously special and holy by the presence of God.

From the finest palace, the most ornate temple, or the grandest home to the humblest shack, the crudest tent, or the roughest cave … all can be made marvelously special and uniquely holy, only by God’s presence there!

His, by Grace, Steve