Can You Do It?

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle made . . .”—Exodus 36:8–38 (NKJV)

Be honest, are you asking yourself, “What does any of this have to do with my life right now?” Admittedly, when we read about these minute details about the tabernacle’s construction, it can seem somewhat irrelevant. But this is still God’s Word, and He chose to include and preserve these details for the Israelites and us today. It’s here for an important reason, and that’s never going to change. The question isn’t if this passage applies to us but if we’re willing to dig to discover it.

So, what do we discover here? For starters, we can’t escape the fact that God is extremely detail oriented. He wanted fifty clasps of gold connecting the curtained panels. Not forty-nine, not fifty-one, but fifty. Reading through, you can’t get away from all the details!

Now, consider your life and all its pressures. Think about all the details that add up to your anxiety, stress, or whatever weight you’re carrying. Sometimes it’s hard for us to track and unpack them! But no detail is beyond the Lord’s attention. Just as He cared about every little loophole on the tabernacle, He is aware of and cares about everything you’re dealing with as you read this.

There’s something else this passage shows us. God wanted the tabernacle built because it fulfilled a spiritual need for His people. They needed to know He hadn’t abandoned them but was in their midst out in the wilderness. Yet this spiritual purpose is supported by a skeletal system of boards, sockets, pillars, etc. The tabernacle was built to stand up to the world’s winds and all the elements that the wilderness would throw at it. All these seemingly irrelevant details added to something that stood tall and worked. And because it did, it served its spiritual purpose.

In our lives, the Lord knows and does what works in the real world. If I can simplify it this way: Christianity works; it holds up! Forgiveness, surrender, rest, peace, and love—the core values of Christianity—lead to a lifestyle that withstands the world’s storms, which is how God builds things.

Lastly, the tabernacle shows us everything has meaning and matters. Some things seemed small and less important or valuable than others. But in God’s grand scheme of things, everything serves a vital purpose, so the entire structure might “be one.” A frayed loop here, a missing socket over there . . . the tabernacle’s overall integrity would be compromised if something seemingly insignificant wasn’t as it should be.

We need to remember this because we can wrongly assume we don’t matter in the long run of God’s work. That’s so untrue! We all matter, have a purpose, and all add up to the work the Lord wants to do.

The tabernacle’s construction reminds us that God knows all the details of our lives, He enables us to stand despite the winds of this world, and we all have meaning and matter!

Pause: What does this passage reveal to us about God’s ways?

Practice: Consider how these aspects of God’s character apply to what you’re experiencing right now in your life.

Pray: Father, help me to see Your heart in Your Word and continue to open my eyes to wondrous things in places where they may not be so obvious. Amen.