9.16.09 - Exodus 31 - 40

Bill is a Hindu. Sandy is a Muslim. You're a Christian. Your friend Rich says you're all pretty much the same. "You're all religious," he says. "You all believe in God." Is he right, or does it make a difference what a person believes -- whom a person believes?
Israel is still at Sinai after receiving many of God's laws on holy living and worship. Moses periodically brings God's words to them from the mountain. But the Israelites tire of waiting for Moses, so they sculpt and worship a golden calf instead. Here is the perfect example of human tendency to remake God into something other than who he is.
Even thought the Israelites had seen invisible God in action, they still wanted gods they could see and shape into whatever image they desired (Exodus 32:1-10). Two popular Egyptian gods, Hapi and Hathor, were thought of as a bull and a heifer (32:4-5). The Canaanites around them worshiped Baal, pictured as a bull. No doubt the Israelites, fresh from Egypt, found it quite natural to make a golden calf to represent the God that had just delivered them from their oppressors. They were weary of a God without a face. But they were ignoring the command God had just given them: "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on earth or in the sea." (20:4). How much like the Israelites we are--wanting to shape God to our liking and make him into a thing for which we merely perform rituals, while we live as we please. Yet, we too, know that there is only one God, and he alone deserves to be worshipped. The gods we create blind us to reality and to the love that God wants to shower on us. God cannot work in us when we elevate anyone or anything above Him.

God wants to be our best friend.
Our relationship to God has many different aspects: God is your Creator and Maker, Lord and Master, Judge, Redeemer, Father, Savior and much more. But the most shocking truth is this: Almighty God yearns to be your Friend! In Eden we see God's ideal relationship with us: Adam and Eve enjoyed and intimate friendship with God. There were no rituals, ceremonies, or religion - just a simple loving relationship between God and the people he created. Unhindered by guilt or fear, Adam and Eve delighted in God, and he delighted in them.
We were made to live in God's continual presence, but after the Fall, that ideal relationship was lost. Only a few people in Old Testament times had the privilege of friendship with God. Moses and Abraham were called "friends of God," David was called "a man after God's own heart, and Job, Enoch and Noah had an intimate friendship with God. (Exodus 33:11, 17; 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23, Acts 13:22; Genesis 6:8, 5:22; Job 29:4.) But fear of God, not friendship, was more common in the OT.

That God would want me for a close friend is hard to understand but the Bible says, "He is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you." Exodus 34:14 God deeply desires that we know Him intimately. In fact, he planned the universe and orchestrated history, including details of our lives, so that we would become His friends. "He made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find Him." Acts 17:26-27.

In one startling example of frank friendship, (Exodus 33:1-17), God honestly expressed His total disgust with Israel's disobedience. He told Moses he would keep His promise to give the Israelites the Promised Land, but he wasn't going one step farther with them in the desert! God was fed up and He let Moses know exactly how He felt. Moses speaking as a "friend" of God responded with equal candor: "Look, you tell me to lead the people but you don't let me know whom you're going to send with me... If I'm so special to you, let me in on your plans... Don't forget, this is YOUR people, your responsibility... If your presence doesn't take the lead here, call this trip off right now! How else will I know that you're with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not?... God said to Moses, 'All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me." Exodus 33:12-17
Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from us? Absolutely! Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of friends; he is bored with predictable, pious cliches. To be God's friend, we must be honest to God, sharing your true feeling, not what we think we ought to feel or say.

Moses asked people with various abilities to help with the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:10-19). Those who could spin cloth made an important contribution --cloth. Bezalel and Oholiab, men with artistic skills, lent their expertise in cutting jewels, carving wood, and other areas (36:1-2). Moses laid out the steps, while Ithamar served as a scribe for the project. God didn't ask Moses to build the Tabernacle alone but to motivate others to do it. Once the Tabernacle was built, its physical care required a long list of important tasks (40:17-33.)
Every one of God's people has been given special talents and gifts. We are responsible to develop these abilities - even those not considered religious - and use them for God's glory. This principle is important to remember today, when God's house is not a building but a body of people - the real church. Many seemingly unimportant tasks must be done to keep our church functioning. Washing dishes, painting walls or printing bulletins may not seem very spiritual, but these tasks are vital to the ministry of the church and have an important role in worship.