Building A Place for God

            What if you were assigned the task of building a place for God? How would you go about that rather large job?  I would probably go about it as Moses did. 

            First, he gathered resources and workers. Exodus 35:4-29 describes an incredible ingathering of resources. The best was brought: gold, silver, goat hair, hides of sea cows, acacia wood, olive oil, onyx stones and gems. Like any good contractor, Moses kept good records and retained a tally of all the materials used. (Ex 38:21-30)

            Moses even did a little inventory of the bigger picture items: the tabernacle, the ark, the table, the lampstand, the curtain, the bronze basin, right down to the things inside the closet…sacred garments for those ministering to the Lord. Once that list was given, the people started to come with their offerings, “all…who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.” In fact, the people of Israel got so excited about being part of the building of the sanctuary, being part of something bigger than themselves, they continued to bring free will offerings until they actually had to be restrained from bringing more. It would be a pastor’s dream: imagine a pastor saying to his congregation, “stop already. No more offerings. We have more than enough to complete the work God has given us to do.” Yet, that is exactly what Moses had to do. (Ex 36:6,7)

            Of course, a building is more than a pile of resources and materials. Moses had to find the right skilled craftsmen, designers and embroiderers to actually do the work God had commanded. The Lord provided Bezalel who was filled “with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” Bezalel picked his crew, trained them  and they oversaw “every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to do the work.”  (Ex 35:30-36:1)

            The actual building, crafting, embroidering, goldsmithing, and silversmithing is described in the next 3 chapters. It is a wonderful testimony of God’s people doing what they were created to do, fulfilling their purposes. So all the work on the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded.

            And thus, like a good general contractor, who was given a blueprint, a master plan, “Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them. “ (Ex 39:42, 43) 

The phrase “as the Lord commanded him” is repeated countless times in Exodus, whether it is with regard to Moses traveling up Mount Sinai early in the morning to receive the new stone tablets, or relaying the commands of the Lord to Pharaoh, or building the sanctuary.

 In the last chapter of Exodus, the phrase is repeated eight times as Moses is instructed by the very voice of God to set up the tabernacle, put the altar in its place, dress Aaron in the sacred garments, place the Testimony in the Ark, the lampstands, basin and gold alter in their proper places. Moses did everything down to the last detail as the Lord commanded him. “And so Moses finished the work.” Then what? Did he walk backwards, put his thumb up to see if everything was plumb? Did he sit back and enjoy the view? Did he gather his people around so they all could admire the work? Was that the end of the story? Tabernacle finished; mission accomplished? Actually, no.

            “Then (what a glorious “then”) “the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”  (Ex 40:34) The account tells us that Moses could not even enter the sanctuary he had built, as the Lord commanded, because the glory of the Lord filled the sanctuary.

            The planning, as the Lord commanded, the ingathering of resources, as the Lord commanded, the building by those who were willing and skilled, as the Lord commanded, and the setting up of the sanctuary, as the Lord commanded is not just simply for the purpose of finishing the work for the work’s sake. It is to build a place for the glory of the Lord to fill. When that happens, when the glory of God comes and fills the place we create as He commands, somehow, it doesn’t matter that there is no room for us. In fact, I think that is the point…as the Lord commands.