Morning Musing: Exodus 31:1-11

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“The Lord also spoke to Moses: ‘Look, I have appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every craft. I have also selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be with him. I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilled artisan in order to make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat that is on top of it, and all the other furnishings of the tent – the table with its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offerings with all its utensils, the basin with its stand – the specially woven garments, both the holy garments for the priest Asson and the garments for his sons to serve as priests, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They must make them according to all that I have commanded you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever known someone who was an idea person? Whenever something needed to be done, she had an idea for how to do it. Even if nothing needed to be done, she still had ideas. Let’s do this. Let’s try that. These kinds of folks can be inspiring. They can often easily wrap the people around them up in a really compelling vision of a future filled with all kinds of ideas. Having an idea and actually bringing that idea into reality, though, are two very different things. As we start in on the final chapter of the description of the tabernacle (before pretty much the whole thing will get repeated as the ISraelites actually build all of it…we won’t treat the sequel with quite as much depth or detail as we have given this part), we are going to start with a look at the folks who were actually going to make all of the ideas for the tabernacle happen. Check this out with me.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 30:22, 25, 31-33, 37-38

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“The Lord spoke to Moses: . . . Prepare from these a holy anointing oil, a scented blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil . . . Tell the Israelites: This will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It must not be used for ordinary anointing on a person’s body, and you must not make anything like it using its formula. It is holy, and it must be holy to you. Anyone who blends something like it or puts some of it on an unauthorized person must be cut off from his people . . . As for the incense you are making, you must not make any for yourselves using its formula. It is to be regarded by you as holy – belonging to the Lord. Anyone who makes something like it to smell its fragrance must be cut off from his people.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My family has a special Christmas plate and cup. They only come out once a year on Christmas Eve, and they only get used then to hold Santa’s cookies and milk. After that, they get washed and put away for the next year. To use them for any other purpose would seem wrong. Some things are just special like that. We understand either explicitly or perhaps merely intuitively that it wouldn’t be right to use them for anything else. As God was coming to the final parts of the tabernacle description, He gave the Israelites two things that were to be specially designated to only be used for worship purposes. Let’s talk about the sacred oil and incense.

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So Much Winning

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This week we had the joyful opportunity to celebrate baptisms as a church. That’s always a major highlight for us (it’s kind of in the name as a Baptist church). So, rather than starting a new teaching series, I decided to explore just why the Gospel these folks have publicly embraced is so good. With a look at Paul’s celebration of the glory and majesty of God’s love for us in Christ, we talked about how great it is that His love for us doesn’t ever quit. May these words be an encouragement and blessing to you.

So Much Winning

Have you ever quit something because it was hard? I mean, I know that’s not something we generally want to admit in polite company, but I suspect most of us have at least one story. When I used to play NBA Jam on my Sega Genesis, I had a perfect record. That’s because anytime it looked like I was going to lose, I just hit that power button and started over. Perhaps a bit more significantly than that, I used to play the trumpet. I played for about a year. I was actually doing okay with it, and was having fun…but then I got braces. Let me tell you: Trumpets and braces are not a very good combination. I still remember how much that hurt. I put up with it for a few weeks, but then the school year came to an end, and I was able to pick a new instrument for the next year. I quit the trumpet and went with drums. It didn’t look like it would hurt as much as the trumpet. Plus, I had seen how much fun the drummers were having in the back of the band. It was way more fun than we were having in the trumpet row. Also, it didn’t hurt. Did I mention that?  

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Morning Musing: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

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“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m certain I have talked before about the movie Into the Wild starring Emile Hirsch. It’s the true story of a young man who graduated college with the world at his fingertips. He came from a wealthy family, he was a great student, he was a gifted athlete, he could have done just about whatever his heart desired. As it turns out, and much to the chagrin of his parents, what his heart desired was to rid himself of all of his possessions and to then make his way to Alaskan wilderness where he would live off the land in peace and harmony with nature. Along the way, he made a number of different relationships that could have been life changing both for him and the folks on the other side of them, but each time he walked away from them in order to pursue his Alaskan vision. Well, lately I have been watching a lot of the series, Life Below Zero with my bride. It follows the lives of a handful of people living mostly off-the-grid and mostly lonely lives in the Alaskan wilderness. As with Into the Wild before it, Life Below Zero has not been for me an inspirational or idealized look at the spirit of adventure and a noble desire to leave as small a footprint on this world as possible. Instead, it has been a powerful reminder to me of just how important community really is.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 30:17-21

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“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Make a bronze basin for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the later to minister by burning a food offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. They must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this is to be a permanent statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Confession time: I didn’t usually wash my hands after using a public restroom (or any restroom really) for most of my life. I stopped to do it occasionally, but just occasionally. Then Covid happened. Now I almost always do. What changed? A relentless public relations campaign that drilled the importance of handwashing into the minds of our culture as a way to “stop the spread.” For most of human history handwashing was practiced about as frequently as I did it before Covid, if that much. But Israel’s priests at least were supposed to wash before entering the tabernacle. Let’s talk about why.

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