Exactly

DEVOTION

EXODUS

EXACTLY

Ex 36:8-38

8 All the skilled men among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman. 9 All the curtains were the same size — twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.   10 They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. 11 Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. 12 They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit. 14 They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle — eleven altogether. 15 All eleven curtains were the same size — thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.   16 They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. 17 Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit. 19 Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.   20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,   22 with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle 24 and made forty silver bases to go under them — two bases for each frame, one under each projection. 25 For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames 26 and forty silver bases — two under each frame. 27 They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, 28 and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. 29 At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases — two under each frame. 31 They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. 33 They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. 34 They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold. 35 They made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. 37 For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen — the work of an embroiderer; 38 and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.

NIV

Well that is a whole of work and everything was done to the exact plans God had given to Moses. We spent some time with that when God was instructing Moses with all this detail. Once again without dissecting every aspect of this narrative, what we learn again is the exacting detail God goes to in his interaction with the people. It would have been possible that God could have told Moses to simply make a larger style tent, one that would have two rooms for some fixtures. But everything about this was to be precisely as God directed it to be in all the finest details. Could we expect anything less from God? Could we expect anything less from him in his interaction with us? Could we expect anything less in his working in our lives? He is not vague. He is exact in all that he does. He does not just save us and then leave us to flounder around on our own. He has specific plans for each of our lives, very exact specific plans. He has an extremely detailed purpose for each member of the body of Christ. As detailed as he was about the Tabernacle, which was the place he was to dwell among the people, how much more exact is he about this tabernacle, our beings, in which he dwells. These details include where we live, where we work, where we church, where we play, where we shop, and every aspect of our lives. He has our days numbered even before the foundation of the earth. There is no secret he holds back concerning how we are to be as his tabernacle. Just as he gave Moses all the plans, not withholding some critical step, or part, he gives us all the plans needed to be the exact person he desires us to be. He both reveals every aspect of his character to us and what our character should be. As we have heard from one previous pastor, our personality is who we are when with people, our character is who we are when we are alone. The only thing is that we are never alone, as God is always with us, in us and working through us. The scripture is clear that as our heart is so are we, as we think, what are character is, that is who we really are and in most cases it shows in our personality. It may be true that we build facades for people to see someone who we are really not. It has also been said, that we are not we who think we are, nor are we who others think we are, but that we are who we think others think we are. That would be like being as a chameleon, changing depending on who we are with. God does not desire that to be the way we are. He has established the exact plans for our character, how we are to think. When we come to him as our Savior, he tells us that one of the ways in which our spiritual worship is to be manifested is in the renewing of our minds. We are to no longer conform to the pattern of the world. We are to conform to his pattern, his plans, and his purpose. The world has an exact pattern as to how we should think and behave. But God has a very exact pattern as how we are to think and behave, in fact he came in the flesh to show us that exact pattern. He was very clear, very exact and very detailed about this tabernacle in which he would dwell. We may not be built with wood, gold, silver, bronze, fine linens and skins, but we have been build, created by the very hands of God. That makes us far more worthy then that tabernacle in the wilderness. We are far more precious than gold. We are his tabernacle, his dwelling place. He has directed that place exactly, and he directs us as exactly.