I recently experienced a guided tour of a life-size Old Testament tabernacle set up at our church. It coincided with a sermon series about encountering God. The Tabernacle Experience transports you back in time into Old Testament life and explains the history, building, and rituals performed within the Tabernacle. Walking through the courtyard, offering a stick of wood onto a burning altar, smelling the incense, walking into the Holy of Holies, and seeing the Ark of the Covenant, gave me a whole new outlook. There were many perspectives that jumped out at me through the experience. But I’ll start with this:
Why Build the Tabernacle?
God was already with his people as he led them out of Egypt. He spoke with Moses and Aaron and gave them directives. He performed many miracles for them to experience. But the Israelite’s were a stubborn, ungrateful, grumbling crowd. Even as Moses was on the mountain with God, they were down below growing impatient. They could see the glory of God on the mountain, yet they made a golden calf idol to worship in his place.
- The people God had chosen as his own needed to be holy and set apart for him! Our Messiah was coming from this nation and they needed to follow the will of God. The Israelite’s needed a holy, consecrated place within their midst for God to dwell.
So God instructed Moses: “Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8
- This sanctuary would be a visible reminder to the people that God lives with them. It signified his presence in their camp, right in front of their eyes and ears. It was a physical manifestation for his glory to dwell in.
Isn’t that what God had in mind for us all along? He created us to be in fellowship with him. It’s a continual theme that runs throughout the Bible that began in the Garden of Eden. We are his family, his people. His love for us is all-encompassing. He wants us to worship him, learn from him, and understand his plans for us. The God of the universe wants to stay connected with us!
To keep the Israelite’s focused on Him, God came to live with them in their camp.
The tabernacle was just one way he showed his people how important connection was to him. To experience it in person made me realize more than ever, that God carefully plans how he will be available and personal in our lives too.
- We honor him when we come to connect with him, worship him, confess our sins, give thanks, and rest in his goodness and love. He loves any intentional efforts we make to connect with him.
So how do you encounter God? When do you have that one on one personal connection with him?
- Our habits, jobs, and personal choices all come in to play when choosing to connect with God. His address doesn’t change, he’s never too busy to listen, and he gave us a guidebook for our lives. So how can we uphold our end of the connection?
Ways to Encounter God
- If our goal is to connect with God, then He must be our focus. I learned in my Tabernacle Experience that the Israelite’s spent their evenings sitting around a fire and telling stories. They kept focused on God by retelling and sharing all they knew about God. They could use their senses to experience God’s physical manifestation in their midst. The smoke from the offerings, the incense spiraling to heaven, seeing the pillar of cloud and fire all pointed to him.
We have so many more ways to connect with God compared to the Israelites! The most important connection is God giving us his Holy Spirit to live within us. You can’t have him any closer than that! The Israelite’s had no bibles or computers or apps on phones. We have abundant opportunities to encounter God. It falls squarely on our shoulders to commit to encounter him.
What Competes for your Time?
God promises that when we make the effort to encounter him, he responds. “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” James 4:8 What are the activities, relationships, etc that keep you from coming close to God?
Encountering God Daily
- To be in a relationship with someone means getting to know them. God gave us his word so we can learn everything we need to know about who he is. Here is what God has to say about his own word: “I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” (Is 55:11) What encouragement! Every second we spend in God’s word brings fruit into our lives. It’s never time wasted or useless.
I encourage you to read his word and think about what you read each day. We have an amazing array of opportunities to search his word at our fingertips. We can even just listen to audio versions in our cars or while traveling.
- Another way to connect is worship– through church services, music, using our senses, and serving others in his name.
- We can encounter God through prayer 24/7. Both talking to him and listening to what he has to say to you are important for connection. Take Colossians 4:2 to heart: “ Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”
It doesn’t surprise me anymore to receive Bible verses “conveniently” as I’m working on a blog. Here’s a prayer from Moses that is just as true today as it was before the earth was born:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90: 1-2
Let God be your dwelling place today and every day! He’s waiting for you…
Blessings!
AnnMarie
Check out The Tabernacle Experience!