This passage focuses on the Israelites’ construction of a sacred residence for God. God outlines the requirements for the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle table, the lamp stands, the Tabernacle tent, the Alter, the courtyard layout, and the clothing of the priests.
At this time the Israelites had to construct a sacred place for God to indwell on earth. There is a theme that flows through almost all Ancient Near East Mythologies of a god attempting to find a place of rest. The nation of Israel was to create a resting place for God and in this way God would always be with Israel.
Today each of us is to construct a sacred residence for God to indwell and rest; that space is our life. We have the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to dwell in our lives. We are not called to create an ark or an alter or special clothing, rather we are called to create a sacred space in our lives. Hopefully, we are creating this space a little more everyday.
Each of us are living lives out of sync with God’s perfect will. We all have addictions, habits, and tendencies that we need to overcome. However, God does not expect us to correct these idiosyncrasies in our lives all at once. Rather, God has a perfect plan for us to gradually become more and more like Christ. I have an addiction in my life that I struggle with everyday. Some day I hope that God and I will begin to have that addiction under control; at that point I recognize that there is a second addiction that God would like me to work on. I know that there are other areas in my life that are not Christ like, but God is calling me to address these two addictions, and after we have worked through them God will reveal another area to focus on.
What is the space in your life that needs to become a sacred resting place for God? What is God calling you to change in order to be more Christ like? I encourage you to seriously think about and address these questions today.
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