When my wife and I chose her engagement ring, I suggested she pick out whatever setting she wanted. But I asked her if I could select the center stone, so that I could personally choose a special representation of my love for her. I wanted to demonstrate my commitment to her with a beautiful symbol of our life together that she would cherish—just as we both celebrate the relationship God has given us.
Thinking about the meaning of her engagement ring helped me understand the meticulous detail with which God described the blueprint for building the tabernacle. He said, “You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you” (Exodus 25:9). Although those details might at first seem to have no relevance to us today, they would have been very meaningful to an ancient Israelite—pointing towards a deep relationship with God.
The words, “so I can live among them” in verse 8 make clear that the relational character of God is at the heart of the tabernacle’s design. For example, the ark of the covenant containing the Ten Commandments would always remind Israel of their covenant with God and the way He revealed Himself to them on Mount Sinai. The rings on the side of the ark, making it portable, would remind them that God’s presence would move with them. The lid of the ark, called the “mercy seat,” would remind Israel of their need for God’s forgiveness.
With the coming of Jesus, Immanuel (“God with us”), we no longer require the tabernacle to experience God’s presence (Matthew 1:23). But there are countless signposts in the world reminding us of the God who loves us and is with us.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 1 Samuel 28:1-25
More:
Read Deuteronomy 31:8 and think about how encouraging these words that detail God’s love and presence must have been to the Israelites.
Next:
How can you structure your physical surroundings to remind you of God’s presence? What does it mean for you to know that He’s with you today—even in life’s details?
Gary Shultz on April 2, 2017 at 6:00 am
Hi Russell: That’s some outside of the box thinking. But we have probably all been in homes, that without a word being spoken, you can observe God is on the peoples hearts who live there. I live in a rural area, open blinds allow light and views of what is happening in God’s earth. A picture, a special memento, books, and sometimes it is what is absent. Probably some semblance order and care speaks of what is believed in the heart. God has always been the God of small into the big, we always learn that way and God is a master of small details. With the tabernacle, its observances, and offerings, was an almost a maddening line of details. God knew we would never hit them perfectly, but it gave us a brush of what holiness would start to look like. Only He can achieve those marks, but He gives us strength to arrange our lives in the detail of His love. A person cleansed in God’s love, will be arranged so one would see God’s love through them. Thanks Russell
hsnpoor on April 7, 2017 at 11:11 pm
That’s beautiful, Gary! “God gives us a brush of what holiness would start to look like….He gives us strength to arrange our lives….so one would see God’s love through our lives”. You went deep on this one…:).