Hello, Monday!

Here's a little music video to start your day off right. I think I've mentioned this song before but only the lyrics. Let's have an "all-sing" to get Monday off right!




Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Sun, Feb. 8- What was the altar for burning incense made from?
Exodus 30:1, “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.”

And here's the question of the day:
Mon, Feb. 9- What process was used to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle?

And here's the reflection of the day:
Part II: The Importance of the Tabernacle (Exodus)
The tabernacle is important for two other reasons. . .

1. The distance between God and the people used to be very far. But with the tabernacle, housing God's presence, the distance is closed. No longer do they have to visit the mountaintop; now, God is right around the corner. (This ties in with what I talked about on Friday and Saturday. Click here to check out those posts: http://frankfortyotb.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html)

2. And now, because of the tabernacle, God's presence will go with them, instead of remaining in one static place. God is now portable, staying on the move with God's people as they travel through the wilderness and toward the Promised Land.

Next thing you know, the Israelites are distracted from the tabernacle construction. Instead of building the tabernacle, they build a golden calf--an idol. Let's compare and contrast the tabernacle and the golden calf:

Tabernacle was God's initiative, and he asked for a willing offering from the people to build it. The details for the tabernacle were painstaking, it was a lengthy building process, and it was build to protect the divine holiness. The tabernacle reinforced the idea of an invisible yet personal and active God.

The golden calf, on the other hand, was born of human initiative, at Aaaron's command. There is little to no planning that goes into this and it was made on the fly. Creating this idol gave them immediate accessibility to a visible god, who actually was a cold, impersonal god.

And remember, the Israelites just escaped Egyptian slavery where they were also constricted into construction on buildings there.

The tabernacle was meant to stand over and above any other building and any other god. It is meant to stand over and above all forms of idolatry. Because their God, and our God, is THE God. God has come down from on high to live among them--"God with us." The tabernacle is a way for the Israelites to exclude idolatrous practices from their worship life.

The Israelites became impatient, waiting for Moses to finish his divine pow-wow with God. They have placed Moses up on a pedestal and think that since he is gone, they are without God's leadership. They have mistakenly made Moses equal with God.

We do that sometimes, don't we? We mistakenly give someone or something God's place routinely. Sometimes it's the minister, sometimes it's a spouse or a job, sometimes it's food or alcohol or gambling. But nothing. . . nothing should or CAN take God's place.

Take time to do a little spiritual inventory today. Does God have the highest place, above all other things or people in your life? Idolatry seems to be our favorite sin, so don't be surprised if He's not. So I guess the question is, how can we rearrange our priorities so that God does come first?

Just something to contemplate on a "Monday, Monday". . . I pray that it's all you "hoped it would be!"
Allison