Persevere Through The Plans
March 2, 2022·Brandt Andersen
This week in our Pause reading, we’ve been going through Exodus, and let me tell you, well done! This is a section of the Bible that, to me, is incredibly tedious. Reading through the plans for how offerings are done, plans for the table, the lamp stands, the Ark of the Covenant, even as detailed as what the Priests would wear and what the curtains of the Tabernacle are to be made of. It’s a lot to process through. So today, I don’t want to so much point out a specific scripture, but rather, I would love to help you see something that’s written between the lines of these chapters of the Bible that has always stuck out to me.
Let’s back up just a little bit. Earlier in Exodus, the Lord helped the children of Israel to escape Egypt, and they are now wandering in the desert, before going into the Promised Land. This generation of Israelites would have never known what it was to live outside of Egypt. What we’re seeing God do here with His people is literally teaching them how to worship and approach Him as a free people, as His chosen people. He is establishing with them laws, practices, and places in which they can be with Him. So, as tedious as these sections of the Bible are, how amazing is it that God cared so much about being with His people that He took the time to make sure they knew how to do so.
When I’m hanging out or playing with my kids, we often have to pause and take breaks to make sure the rules of what we are doing are understood. “Callen, you can’t jump off the couch onto your sister.” “Quinn, you can’t throw that horse at your brother.” Stopping to address these rules allows for the time we spend together to be better, more fun, and more enjoyable. They are four years old; it would be silly for me to believe they already know all the rules and ways to act in all situations… especially the ones they’ve had no opportunity to learn about yet. That’s what God was doing with His children. He was taking time to make sure they understood what to do and how to spend time with Him.
It could be so easy to look at these sections and think, “Wow. God really made the Israelites jump through hoops to get to Him.” Which I would have to agree with you, but it’s also contextual to the times. I am exceptionally thankful now that we don’t have to sacrifice several birds, a goat, and a bushel of wheat in order to have our sins forgiven. Ultimately, all those sins became covered by the spotless Lamb of God, when Jesus died on the Cross so that our sins were covered for all eternity.
I want to close with this… there is power in God’s plans. God is intentional in every little detail. God wanted the Israelites to learn to rely on Him, to depend on Him, and taught them through the details. But God knew, even then, that they would need the perfect sacrifice found only in Jesus. Jesus stepped from eternity into time and served as the ultimate sacrifice, so we no longer had to make sacrifices whenever we wanted to approach the Lord. We can simply talk to Him, worship Him, and be with Him. There is something so beautiful about those details in Exodus, because they show we serve an intentional God, whose desire is to be with us and for us to be close to Him.
Brandt Andersen
