Today I was reading Exodus 27 where God is giving Moses instructions on
how to build the tabernacle and the furnishings for it. I was a little
overwhelmed at all the detail that God goes into in describing what things
should look like, how they should be made, what materials they are to be
constructed out of, etc. God was extremely explicit in His expectations. Moses knew exactly what God wanted of him. But rather than the details
being constricting, knowing the details is freeing!
Have you ever had one of those professors or teachers who didn't spell out
what they were looking for when you were to do projects or papers. They
would give an assignment like: do a paper on ancient Egypt. I hated all
the uncertainty with an assignment like that. I wanted to know how many
pages the professor was expecting, what citation style, margins, font
size, cover page or not and on and on. It was so much easier to create a
project when I knew what the professor was expecting of me. I wouldn't be
stressing about the details and could focus on doing my best on the
project.
God knew that we need structure. We need to know the guidelines and
limits. We need the details. He wanted craftsmen to work on this special
place where He would abide, but He set forth what He expected of them so
they could concentrate on creating without worrying about whether it would
meet His approval.
We also have been given guidelines by God. He tells us in His Word what
we need to know to live victorious lives. He tells us that in order to be
right with Him we have to believe on His son, Jesus, turn from our sins,
and accept His free gift of salvation. If we have done that, then we are
free to live our lives without worry that we won't meet His expectations. Of course, we won't want to stop with salvation. Our gratitude for our
salvation will overflow into wanting to live our lives to bring glory and
honor to His name. He has even given us guidelines for that process all
over His Word. Philippians 4:8 is a great place to begin.
So rather than thinking of God as exacting and restrictive and His Word as
full of dos and don'ts, let us see it in a new light. Let's focus on the
great time God invested in telling us how to please Him. We know exactly
how to please our God, now let's get out there and do it!
