May 23, 2018: Day 39 – Exodus 39

Did you notice that the high priest wore a turban?  Don’t we normally associate turbans with people who believe in the God of Islam?  Not here, be really careful in judging people by what they wear, or the tattoos that they have, or anything that we think we understand people by what we see on the outside.  Remember what the Lord tells Samuel in I Samuel 16:7 and what Paul reminds us of in I Corinthians 5:12.  

The work is complete for the temporary place of worship for the people of Israel.  The Tabernacle was brought to Moses, for inspection I would guess.  He looked it over and the Scripture tell us that he blessed the people as a result of what he saw.  I guess he was pleased that it was done as the Lord had commanded.  Quite a few times it mentions that it was done the way that the Lord had commanded.  It must have taken time.  We don’t know how long it took.  Do you know something else that I heard today that I hadn’t thought about before.  Jesus is never in a hurry.  No, literally, he is never in a hurry.  You never see him run, or jog, or hurry people up to get a job done.  

In fact, he tends to be painfully deliberate.  It would drive me crazy if I were a disciple.  I think this week I was convicted of one of my many faults.  I am someone who wants to be able to discern and lead the people in the way of the Lord, in a hurry.  It isn’t because I have somewhere else to go, but simply because I like to get things done.  I am so praxis oriented that waiting for the voice of the Lord doesn’t sound like work to me, it sounds like a waste of time.  Tell that to Elijah.  He had to wait, and he was rewarded with the presence of the Lord.

This week in Washington DC has been incredibly rewarding in so many different ways.  Exodus is coming to a close, which is fitting also for my time here in DC.  I have been convicted of a number of things and I still have a lot on which I need to work.  I have found myself in tears as some of the speakers encourage us as pastors to do the work of God and to do the work for the people without tiring.  That has never been my problem, but wanting it to be done quickly, well, that’s a different story.  Jesus was deliberate, very deliberate.  That is helpful for me to remember.  Building the tabernacle took time.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all.  Neither is the kingdom of God.