Thursday, November 18, 2010

Do the Details Matter?

That's a question I'm often faced with....how about you?  In fact, I'm often told I'm paying too much attention to the details, that I just need to focus on the big picture.  In terms of our topic of worship, do the details matter?  I heard a discussion of this very topic on the radio yesterday as I was driving around town.  Does how we do a particular thing matter, as long as it gets done?  Let's begin to think about that as we continue to explore what the Bible teaches us about worship.

Today we will turn our focus from the instruction to build a tabernacle to the furniture that God instructed Moses to place in the tabernacle.  You'll find this in Exodus 40:17-33.  Read those verses and then mark the word "tabernacle" just as you did yesterday.  Also note the phrase "just as the Lord had commanded Moses."  Carefully note each piece of furniture and where it was placed in the tabernacle.


Think about these questions:
  • How was the tabernacle to be constructed?
  • Did the people have the freedom to build it any way they wanted?
  • Whose instructions are these?
  • Does this account give you any perspective on the way God is to be worshiped?
  • Do you think God cares how we worship Him?
  • In other words, do the details matter?
Give that some thought today.  If you would like to share your thoughts, please leave a comment.

1 comment:

  1. Ah, Susan, your post title grabbed me. Yes, yes, the details most certainly matter. More to some than to others. And then, the way that God has made us each uniquely, we focus on different aspects of the details. He was certainly specific about his instructions for worship to the Israelites. It seems to me that he took such great interest in those details because they pointed so specifically to Christ and his role as our mediator and our access to the presence of God. Today I think it is important that our worship underscores God's holiness and accessibility through Christ's atonement alone, but other than that I think the possibilities for format, posture, style, location, etc., are practically endless.

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