Rainy Days and Mondays....

Mondays are great.! Love them...and all they hold in store!

I don't live where the singer Carole King lived, apparently, because when I was growing up, she was always on the radio singing her heart out, something about 'rainy days and Mondays always getting her down'...

I stand firm in believing that it's all in our attitude. How we greet and anticipate each day speaks volumes about whether we're 'down' or not!

For me, a typical Monday is spent like this: study in the morning, at the office, take a short break for lunch, go back, finish up anything left undone and by 2 I go to a local assisted living facility to have Bible study.

After that, it's time for the girls to be home, and so I get to listen to how their day went...

Today was a little different. You see, because it is Columbus Day, the girls didn't have school. They left late yesterday afternnon to go on an overnight trip with our youth group to the camp in Flora.

Because they weren't home, I took the opportunity to spend an uninterrupted morning studying at home. I had a blast. The girls made it back home around noon, and talked non-stop til I left for Bible study at 2. They are still talking...which is good, they had a great time.

This is what I wanted to write about, though...the last verse of our Bible study today. We are studying Exodus. Today we took a look at chapters 26-29 of this precious book... Lots of details there concerning color choices, wood choices, the exact measurements, and materials to be used to build the tabernacle, and the articles inside it. And, the garments the priests were to have worn. Then, the instructions for consecrating or 'setting apart' the items, the garments, and the priests, themselves. Sacrifices, lots of sacrifices...burnt ones...a pleasing aroma to our Lord it is written there.

After talking about so many details, one precious lady said, 'What does this mean to us today?'...I have to admit, while I was studying I was starting to think the same thing!--I mean really, she's 92...how can she apply this portion of scripture to her life? Here's where trust comes in, because all scripture is God-breathed Paul tells us in 2 Timothy, so we know it is useful for instructing and correcting and rebuking...but why do we need to know these details?

Here's what we found though: such detailed rituals were necessary for quality control. And, one central, standardized form of worship helped to prevent problems with people using their own ideas about 'how it was to be done'...it was all written down, in language they could understand, and came directly from when Moses met with God on the mountain!
Plus, these instructions, and the rituals, and forms they took would also help seperate the Hebrew people from other pagan cultures they would come in to contact with later. (think Canaanites here!)

And, especially the last few verses of chapter 29 spoke to my heart:
Verse 37 speaks to the holiness of God. and why everything about the sacrificial rites had to be holy, as well. For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.
The next verses go on to describe the sacrifices to be burned on the altar. The altar had been placed in the courtyard of the tabernacle...to be seen first by all who entered there, to remind them of the sacrifice that had to be made to reconcile them to Holy God.

The tabernacle, or 'Tent of Meeting' was set apart as holy. It was the place God designed, and had built, by specific instructions...and here's why:
Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They wil know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.verses 45 & 46.
I don't know about you, but that makes me shiver. The God of the Universe, the God that created the garden and Adam & Eve...wanted to be able to 'dwell among them'...His people, and He did, until they sinned.

He made it possible then, in the 'Tent of Meeting', and eventually in His Temple in Jerusalem. But the greatest sacrifice of all, which eliminated the ritual of animal sacrifice was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God's only Son, Jesus, came to 'dwell among them'...they killed Him, though...
But Jesus Christ conquered death. He rose from the dead...dwelling among them for another 40 days.

Then, on the Day of Pentecost, God sent His Holy Spirit, so that He might 'dwell among them'...His people, His chosen and dearly loved people. What more could we ask for? This, this is what all those details mean to us today.

It's God's story. It's His message of reconciling mankind to Himself...that He might live within us! The story of how so very much He loves His people that He desires and accomplished a way to dwell among us, even while we are still on earth!

Praise HIM, for HE is Holy & He is Worthy!