He is a God of Details...

Reading through the Bible in one year has been a goal of mine for a long time and I start it every year.  It doesn't last long.  It feels like an assignment and my natural self likes to rebel in the face of assignments at times.


But our pastor talked one Sunday about how the Bible is God's story and we should read it like a story.  Not a list of shoulds and shouldn'ts.  It turns out my father-in-law is reading through the Bible in a year as well, but chronologically-or as chronologically as researchers have been able to figure out.   So I printed the One Year Chronological Bible Reading Plan and got started.  God's story has come together in a new way as I read.


Even today as I approached a section I haven't been looking forward to.  In Exodus 25-28 you will find a lot of instructions.  How to:


construct the Ark of the Covenant
make the Table for Bread
create the Golden Lamp Stand
build the Tabernacle
construct the Bronze Altar
build the Court of the Tabernacle
tend the oil for the lamp
stitch together the priests' garments


And I know there is more to come.  As I read it I kept thinking Lord, what can I possibly learn from reading this?  Words like cubit, rings of gold, onyx stones, tanned ram's skins, flagons, ephod...are not words that lead me to application.  And frankly it doesn't excite me too much either.


But I kept asking and I think His answer was this...


God is a God of details.  These instructions to Moses were specific.  Extremely specific.  The type of wood, the stones, the exact dimensions, the colors, all of it.


And isn't He a God who has numbered the grains of sand?  The starts in the sky?  The hairs on our head?  Not a single sparrow falls without Him knowing...


And He is our God.  He has chosen us.  This God who envisions the details, designs them, creates them, and teaches others to carry them out.  The details of creation are His.  The colors, the landscapes, the species, the seasons, you, me, the gifts we are given in order to serve Him.


I wonder how the Israelites felt when Moses passed along these assignments.  Overwhelmed perhaps?  Details can be overwhelming.  They trip us up.  They remove our eyes from Christ and we see only the next direction.  We wonder how long it will take.  We become caught up in achieving.  But they were building to worship.  It was the purpose of all of this.  To create a sacred space.  To turn their hearts toward Him.


Oh Lord, as I live day to day, let me remember the purpose in all things is to worship you.  When I am caught up in doing, when I am weary, when the assignment seems to hard, too long, remind me that you are in the details.  You are the God of details.  Every single one.  Thank you, Lord.


Day 2 of intentional living: spend the day playing with my daughter.
An extra blessing was spending it with Gramma too!  We played outside, had lunch out, and went for a country drive together.  And in the afternoon we had nice long naps...ahhhh...Fall.