A Lesson from the Tabernacle

On the plane hom

Frankly, being a history lover, I have a ready answer to those who complain about all those “lengthy genealogies.” Each of those names represents people. But why should I, ill-equipped to build anything substantial, care that these Old Testament laborers were to make “fifty loops” in one of the curtains and “forty sockets of silver under twenty boards” in the Tent of Meeting.

Certainly, I acknowledge that those builders would need a specific blueprint and clearly-defined expectations from the Owner. But why did God include chapter after chapter for those of us who would never build a Tabernacle? I would have been fine if the text had just said less than twenty words, “Behold, God raised up skilled workers who followed His instructions and built the Tabernacle exactly as He told them.” But it didn’t! Why?

Here’s what I pondered, flying at over 30,000 feet over the Atlantic. I was reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words that the things in the Old Testament were recorded for our instruction (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11). Based on that, I considered what might then be one of the many “Lessons from the Tabernacle.”

God is the God of details. Simply stated — He means what He says and says what He means. If God asks for a pole five cubits long (a cubit is about 18 inches) then God expects a pole exactly 90 inches long. Not 89—not 91. Why? Because He is God and we are not. Half-measures will never do, no matter how challenging His standards may seem to us. We don’t get to cut corners when it comes to ANY of His clearly-defined instructions. For example, we are to love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor — yes, ALL of them — as ourselves. As far as Our Master Builder is concerned, no part of those instructions are up for negotiation. Frankly, everything we do — and He truly means EVERYTHING — is to be done to the glory of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31).

Let’s ponder that the next time the Holy Spirit prompts us to a specific course of action, whether flying at 30,000 feet or with our feet planted on terra firma.