May 21, 2018: Day 37 – Exodus 37

Now that is a lot of gold that went into making the ark of the covenant.   Remember, we have already covered what went into the ark, but one of the primary contents of the tabernacle was the Word of God, the covenant that God had established with his people.  For the Israelites that was the embodiment of God, the actual stone tablets.  Even if their prophets came later and said that one day there will be a covenant that is made on your hearts and not on stone tablets.

The presence of the covenant was so important to the people of Israel.  But it was static.  It did not have life.  It was actually that which took life, and didn’t give it.  Paul speaks about this how the law was for the sake of basically telling us what we were doing wrong, not how to have a living relationship with the Creator God.  

That has always been my approach in preaching.  What is it that God does which gives us life?  Well…, everything!  It is about life, it is about being able to see Him in a way that is transformative, and not in a way that is limiting or which creates fear.  I heard something today that I know I will be sharing in the pulpit.  God despises fear.  He chews out his disciples every time that they are afraid.  But he can put up with people who don’t have faith, even those with little faith.  What an amazing God we serve who wants us to live our life in freedom, without fear, and if we have doubts along the way, that’s okay, He can deal with that.