God is Into Beauty
Reading through Exodus I have been impressed with the exacting detail of the instructions that God gave Moses for the construction of the tabernacle, the furniture and now in chapter 28, the instructions for making the clothing for Aaron, the high priest, and his sons.
The finest materials were used, the boards of the tabernacle covered with gold, all of the pieces of furniture covered with gold except the altar of brass. The garments for the priests were to be made of finely twisted linen, the work of a skilled craftsman. They were colorful; gold, blue, purple and scarlet. Precious stones were to be placed on the shoulders and on the breast piece. God certainly is not cheap!!
The impression I get from this is that God is a lover of beauty and fine craftsmanship. later on when we come to chapter 35 we'll see that the Lord chose Bezalel of the tribe of Judah and filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship and the skill to embroider. God also gave him the ability to teach others these crafts.
I personally believe that when we are gifted in a craft that gift comes from God and can be used to the glory of God. It doesn't necessarily have to have a "religious" tone to it. I believe the church (meaning the collective church world-wide) has been lax in appreciating creative gifts that people have, and has shoved those gifts into the arena of just being hobbies. But we can see from what we have read that God has an interest in things finely made, fine materials and he is a stickler for detail.
If God is so into detail about inanimate things, how much more is he concerned about this human creation. In fact he is acutely aware of each one of us and has been from the moment we were conceived. Psa. 139:14-16 says "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. NLT
That is almost mind boggling. On the other hand, this knowledge should make us want to walk closer to Him, use our time more wisely, and to be consciously aware that God is thinking about us every single moment, even in the moments when we are blowing it. Psalm 139 goes on to say "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They are innumerable! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning you are still with me."
Thinking again about the priest's garments, we can liken this to our lives. Materials have to be washed before the craftsman begins to make a garment. We start our journey with the Lord by being washed in the blood of Jesus. Next there is a pattern that is laid on the material; God has a pattern for each of our lives. Each pattern is individual and specifically chosen for you. The garment is cut out of the material according to the pattern. God tells us to lay off certain things in our lives; in other words, cut them off. After the garment is sewn it is pressed with a hot iron. 1 Pet. 4:12 says "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you." It's the fiery trials that iron out the wrinkles. There is some sticking and pricking along the way too as the pattern is pinned onto the material and the garment is formed with a sharp needle. (Ever feel that way?) But in the end a beautiful garment is formed and that is what the Lord is doing in our lives. Material that we would toss aside, a craftsman can look at it and see something beautiful that can be formed. God does that too. Lives that we have given up on can be redeemed and be made to glorify God.
God is into beauty and you are the most beautiful of his creation.
Tomorrows Bible Reading - Exodus 29, John 8, Proverbs 5, Galatians 4
God is good all the time,
1 comment:
One again absolutely amazing word. I love the analogy at the end and I may have to use that for a message. So good! Thanks mom your the best!
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