The Torah is not for sissies. The reading proves difficult, and the names get more difficult to pronounce with each passing chapter. Sometimes I feel like saying, “Help me Obi-Wan Knobie. You are my only hope.” Leviticus brought law after law, while the Book of Numbers chronicles in great detail the building of the tabernacle. I think a carpenter would find it difficult to keep up with God’s instructions.
The text invites us to look past the ordinary part of our reading and into the message God reveals to us through the care that He displays for His children. Look at the tiny intricacy that our Creator demonstrates when fashioning the place that they came together to have time with Him. Each piece was woven into the next part, fashioned together with every detail displaying another layer of love that our Father shared with the ancient people of Israel.
God takes the same care in our creation. Our bodies, temples imagined and formed in the imageo Dei (image of God), display the care put into our own creation. The psalmist says it best, “I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Everything about us longs to connect with the hands that molded us together and ignited the spark of sacredness into our DNA. We can run away all we want, but we can never escape the real reason we were put on this planet; to love and to serve our God. Until we embrace our destiny, we will never know what it is like to be whole.
And so, we pick up our tents out of the deserts of our lives and follow the one who led us out of bondage. We remember the love that held on to us and reminded us that we were in foreign lands until our God delivered us to our right places. The journey is full of surprises, but nothing can compare to finding our way home.
From a Pastor's Point of View 