A Thought For The Week Of September 18, 2017

"Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it." (Exodus 25:10-11) Recently I've been doing a lot of personal devotional reading through the Book of Exodus, and I've come in the last few days to those parts of the story that can be pretty dry reading - the sections that talk about offerings and the construction of various things like the Ark and the table and the lampstands, etc. Not the sort of thing that would usually lend itself to a lot of spiritual inspiration you might say. But I also remember the admonition of the New Testament that all Scripture is inspired and useful. So I wonder - how, today, are such dry parts of the story that seem to have so little relevance to Christians in 2017 useful to us? Well, one thing that struck me about the various accounts was that - however dry - they are full of details - lots of them. And the stories are also full of gold - lots of it. In fact, those have to be the two things that stood out for me in this part of Exodus. - and particularly the part of Exodus that deals with the building of the Ark. Obviously the Ark was important. It was where what you might call "the originals" of the Ten Commandments would be kept and preserved - and those commandments, of course, were the basic revelation from God of how the people were to live in community with one another and in relationship with God. So, perhaps, one can understand both the details and the gold and why it was so important for those who wrote these accounts to stress both so much. It's a matter of honour and respect. The details show respect for God - the Ark must be just perfect if the people are to meet God there. The gold honours God. It is the most precious of metals - and its use signifies the over-arching value of the people's relationship with God. The Ark couldn't just be slapped together haphazardly. It had to be put together carefully and used respectfully. In that sense the details and the gold are not a bad analogy for God's people even today in terms of how to nurture our relationship with God - with great care and attention and in a way that demonstrates that our relationship with God is the most important thing of all, since it guides our relationships with others. We're no longer building arks or temples, and our faith isn't measured by gold or money - but passages like this can still be a reminder of our need to put all of ourselves into the relationship we enjoy with God.