Readings for today: Exodus 39-40, Mark 1:1-28, Psalms 35:1-16, Proverbs 9:11-12
I grabbed a beer with a good friend yesterday. A master craftsman with an eye for detail. He’s been reading the Bible in a Year with us and was struck by God’s concern for the seemingly minute details of the Tabernacle. God planned this thing down to the cubit. He is passionate about every aspect of this dwelling. He wants only the best material. Only the best metal. Only the best yarn. He will accept only the best sacrifices. All this led my friend to a great question, “Is God a diva?”
I love it. We live in a world where people make all kinds of obnoxious demands. We often hear about celebrities attaching specific riders to their contracts requiring green M&M’s, vanilla-scented candles, and bottled water chilled to a certain degree in their dressing rooms. We gag at the amount of pork our politicians fight over before they vote up or down on a bill. We’re stunned by the amount of pomp and circumstance that goes into a royal wedding. And most of us know that deep down, given the right set of circumstances, we’d probably do the same. We’re not immune from the feelings of entitlement that go along with wealth, power, and privilege.
So what’s up with God? Is He insecure? Does He feel the need to prove Himself to us? Does He have a taste for the finer things of life? And what’s up with the way He treats His people. Almost like they are slaves. Almost like they are possessions. Almost like they have no rights of their own. Is God a diva?
The very fact that we all ask this question betrays our deep biological connection to the first Adam. His original sin is hardwired into our DNA. We believe we are like God. We believe we are God’s equal. God’s peer. We believe we can question God. Doubt God. Push back on God. We believe we have a right to demand God submit to our human notions of fairness and justice. We believe God’s answerable to us on some level. So when we read about all the gold and all the bronze and all the expensive dyes and ointments and incense that must be prepared before we can appopriately worship God, we get skeptical. Is all this really necessary? Can’t we cut a corner here or there? Get by on less? Can’t we keep some of this for ourselves? Wouldn’t it make life easier? Isn’t that what God really wants?
We are fools. We have no idea who we are dealing with. We have no conception of the immense gap that exists between humanity and God. God is NOT like us. God is wholly other. He is beyond any horizon we can possibly conceive. He is greater than anything we can possibly imagine. As high as the heavens are above the earth so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts. His ways higher than our ways. Most of all, God is holy. He is sinless. He is perfection. He created everything that was, is, and will be. He owns it all. He reigns sovereign over all. All of it made according to His will and for His good pleasure. Who are we to question God? Who are we to demand anything from God? Who are we to compare God to some human standard? If God chooses to pile up all the wealth of the entire earth in once place and set His throne upon it, who are we to protest? It is all His to begin with! If God chooses to use His people as He sees fit to accomplish His purposes in this world, who are we to argue? We would not exist without God!
The truly amazing thing about this whole section in Exodus is the mind-blowing miracle of God preparing to make His dwelling place among His people. It should bring us to our knees in awe and wonder. Our jaws should drop. Our minds should be blown. Our hearts filled with the conviction that overcame the prophet Isaiah when he had his vision of the Temple. God Himself has come to live with us. God Himself has come to walk by our side. God Himself has come to speak with us face to face. He has made a way where there would otherwise be no way. How great is our God!
Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 1-3, Mark 1:29-45, Psalms 35:17-28, Proverbs 9:13-18