Real Hope: Second ChancesSample

Are You Willing?

In Exodus, we read how, through Moses, God commands that His people build a tabernacle for Him. He gives very specific instructions for how to build it, what materials to use, and what items to make. God knows how He wants His tabernacle built, and He is very specific. You would think that, being God, He would just build it Himself to His specifications and make it as perfect as He is. Instead, He invites us to be a part of it.

From the very beginning, God longed for a relationship with us. He desired communion with us. Yet, as we see in this passage, He won’t force Himself onto us or force us to do anything. Instead, He invites us to participate. He seeks our hearts and calls us to an intimate relationship with Him. He calls us to be part of His glorious story of love and redemption.

God commanded the tabernacle to be built, but He didn’t command everyone to do it; He invited the willing to be a part of it. God desires our hearts and a genuine relationship with us. He wants our participation to be of our own free will. He wants us to willingly serve Him because we love Him, not out of obligation or guilt, but out of genuine love and adoration. Does He have specific instructions for us in life, like how He wanted the tabernacle built? Yes, because God is sovereign and perfect and has a standard that is way above ours. Yet even in that, He will instruct and guide, but He won’t force us. God invites us into a personal relationship with Him. The question is, are we willing to say yes?

Written by LEILA ARMSTRONG