2.24.25 ~ House Renovations

Good morning

It's a big week! I have friends coming into the clinic from Florida. We start a new Torah portion, Terumah/offering (Ex. 25:1-27:19), what I consider the most important topic in the entire Bible: give me the instructions of the Tabernacle and I will know the character of God, how to approach Him, how to live my life towards those around me, how to keep Him in the center of my life and what life in His presence will be like. And since our bodies are called 'Tabernacles', 'tents' (2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Pet. 1:13; 1 Cor. 15:53,54; etc.) and or 'Temples' (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19,20; 2 Cor. 6:16, Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:5; etc), I want to know every detail of the earthly tabernacle, the place that He wants to dwell in (Ex. 25:8) that is patterned identically to the one in the heavenlies (Ex. 25:9).  And with that preface, to what I consider the most valuable and inclusive topic in Scripture, it's also the scariest. Huh?

Let me give you something to think about...In Exodus 20, the encounter with God on the mountain was so terrifying that the people cried out for God to stop revealing Himself (Ex. 20:18,19); even Moses was shaking in his sandals (Heb. 12:21). Now, God wants us to make Him a dwelling place so He can dwell in us?? Really!??

Maybe there's more to this indwelling God than just the warm fuzzies? Just as with a human relationship, the husband provides the wife with the raw materials and she takes the raw materials of the house and willingly makes it a home that he/He can dwell in according to Who He is. Yikes! For most, if not all of us, that means, we might want to do a little renovating of our dwelling place/mikdash.

The question we might ask ourselves today is, "am I willing to use what God's given me to build a place for Him to dwell that's suitable for the God of all creation or...nah, He won't care. He loves me and dwells inside me just as I am?

May Yeshua's prayer of "...you will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." be a functional prayer for all of us as we head into our work week!

Shalom

P.S. I won't be a zoom call tonight. I'll be picking up friends at the airport. Wednesday night, we will dig into the Tabernacle in a reality check, practical way on our zoom call (Ex. 25)

Passover's coming!

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