You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains. You must make them of finely spun linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. The length of each curtain should be 42 feet, and the width of each curtain six feet; all the curtains are to have the same measurements. Five of the curtains should be joined together and the other five curtains joined together. Make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the last curtain in the first set, and do the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. Exodus 26:1-5
My words…
Praise
I have always been amazed by the level of detail You required in the construction of the tabernacle. The table, the lampstand, the altar, the ark of the covenant, all so meticulously designed down to the cubit. All very orderly of You. I have often wondered what the tabernacle would have looked like if You had said, “Just build it however you Israelites see fit.” I daresay it would have been chaos. And if it’s one thing You know how to order and prevent, it’s chaos. Before the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky burst open on Noah, You ensured he had the plans to build the ark to Your exact specifications, down to the cubit. When the Israelites departed Egypt as freed slaves, You commanded Moses to assemble the community and record their ancestry by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting one by one the names of those 20 years or older. So orderly of You. And The Law! Burnt offering, grain offering, priestly garments, clean and unclean animals, cleansing skin diseases, holy days, sexual offenses – nothing left to chance. As long as Your well-defined, straight path was followed, chaos remained locked away, and Your children thrived. Your detailed instructions and commandments and statutes were given during the times when no one else knew what to do. It was You, the wise, loving Father, providing for the needs of Your children. You did it then through stone tablets and prophets. You do it today through Your Spirit.
Prayer for me
You know me: I like order. My spools of thread are stored according to color, my spices alphabetically, and my books by genre. Weeds have a very short life span in my yard, and I receive a great deal of satisfaction using a power washer. (See, I am made in Your image!) But all of that doesn’t mean diddly-squat if chaos is having a field day in my soul. Who cares if my clothes are arranged by sleeve length if my spiritual disciplines are in disarray, or worse, non-existent? You never intended for me to spend more time organizing my “stuff” than I do spending time with You in Your word, in prayer, and in solitude. So, I pray that my spirit will learn more from Your precise Spirit living within me.
Forgive me
Forgive me, Lord, when a cluttered closet calls to me more loudly than a cluttered spirit.
Prayer for others
Lord, I pray for those who don’t know You as the God who chases away chaos and brings order into the most out-of-order lives. Only You have the power to shape an undefined, inchoate life. Move in their lives! Hover over them! Pursue them!
Thank You
Thank you for empowering me with Your Spirit to stand against the lure of chaos as You guide me along a straight path. I don’t fear the rat’s nest of life when You’re with me.
More praise
Jesus, I praise You as the deliverer of those whose lives are governed by chaos – where chaos rules. When You wore flesh, You rendered demons powerless and offered healing to the blind, deaf, and lame. You spoke order from chaos. I see you working still from the right hand of the Father. The turmoil caused by addiction, abuse, abandonment, and anxiety dissipates when lives are surrendered to You. You calmed the storm when Your disciples despaired. You can calm anything.
