Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Exodus 39-40
Key Verse
Exodus 39:41 — “The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office.”
Devotional Thought
The book of Exodus ends not with a bang but with a blessing. For chapters now, we have watched Bezaleel and Aholiab and every willing-hearted craftsman labor over blue and purple and scarlet, beating gold into wire thin enough to weave into linen, engraving twelve precious stones with the names of Jacob’s sons. Here in chapter thirty-nine the work is finally brought to Moses, piece by piece—the ephod, the breastplate, the robe with its alternating bells and pomegranates, the mitre with its golden plate reading HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And Moses, who once stood barefoot before a burning bush, now looks over the finished work and blesses the people. The details are staggering: God cares about shoulderpieces and hems and how a breastplate is bound so it “might not be loosed.” Nothing about His dwelling place is left to chance.
Then chapter forty opens with a command: “On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle.” Almost a year after the exodus from Egypt, on the anniversary of their new beginning, Moses raises the tent. He lays the sockets, sets the boards, spreads the coverings, carries in the ark, arranges the bread, lights the lamps, burns the incense, washes his hands and feet at the laver. Seven times we read, “as the LORD commanded Moses.” This is obedience in its most ordinary form—not heroic deeds but faithful assembly, each piece in its place.
And then the glory falls. A cloud covers the tent, and the presence of God fills the tabernacle so fully that even Moses cannot enter. The same glory that led them through the sea now settles on a tent made of badger skins and acacia wood. God is not ashamed to dwell among His people in a portable house in the wilderness.
We read this in mid-June, in the long green season after Pentecost, when the church’s calendar feels ordinary and the days are warm and unhurried. Most of us are not building tabernacles; we are packing lunches, answering emails, weeding gardens. But this passage dignifies the ordinary work of faithful people. The women who spun thread, the men who hammered gold—none of them saw the cloud descend, but their obedience made a dwelling place for God. So does yours.
Reflection
- The Israelites followed the cloud, moving only when God moved. What in your life right now requires you to wait on God’s timing rather than your own?
- Seven times in Exodus 40 we read that Moses did “as the LORD commanded.” Where is God asking for simple, unspectacular obedience from you this week?
Prayer
Lord God of Israel, who once filled a tabernacle of skins and gold with Your glory, we thank You that You still choose to dwell among ordinary people doing ordinary work. Teach us to labor as Bezaleel and Aholiab did—carefully, generously, and exactly as You command—even when no cloud descends and no fire falls. When You say wait, give us patience; when You say go, give us courage. Wash us, sanctify us, and let our lives be a habitation for Your Spirit, until that day when we see Your glory face to face. In the name of Jesus, our great High Priest, Amen.