Exodus 30 -- Must

The word "must" sure shows up a lot in this chapter.  In fact, I had to read it yesterday and then ask God to give me insight I didn't feel I had at the time.

Here I saw God, who owns everything and lacks nothing, God who made the universe, not out of any need, but because He wanted to.  He called this people to Him, brought them into Egypt to save them, and then out of Egypt to save them from a life of toil, and prepared the Promised Land for them.  At Mt. Sinai, this group that would traipse through the wilderness on foot for 40 years is given the task of making all of this, without a factory or even a workshed, and transporting it through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  When they stop for a few days, it sounds like all of it was set up for use -- possibly daily, since God commanded daily sacrifices.

I knew God wasn't lacking anything, so He doesn't therefore need the sacrifices.  More than anything, I think He set this all up for the Israelites.  Perhaps they too easily forgot His miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and needed the discipline of daily communion with Him through Moses and Aaron.  On the mountain, they hadn't even wanted to hear His voice!

Perhaps we today have the same tendency to forget, only rather than killing sheep, rams, and bulls, and waiting outside the tent while someone else speaks to God for us, we're given His finished Word and the Holy Spirit to interpret it for us.  Our sacrifices aren't animal, but time, service, and quiet times.  Since we've got it so much better, we ought to be cherishing that time instead of occasionally remembering to spend time with Him.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford