day no. 14,404: rest and rigor

Exodus 31:1-4a, 6, 12-13

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs…. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you...12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

The Lord provides what He commands. He requires craftsmanship for glory and for beauty and He provides His Spirit to inspire and execute everything according to the plans He provided. God cares about beauty. It communicates something beyond itself. Beauty inspires awe and in its proper context it draws the admirer closer to the Author of all that beauty communicates. God is what beauty feels like. He is more than that, of course, but He is not less. He is beyond awe, but breath-taking beauty gets you pointed in the direction of transcendence.

So all that to say, there is great value in pouring yourself into the work of making things beautiful for the sake of pointing people beyond the common. But there is more to life than just work, work, work. Even good things, like good work, must not be made the point of life. The glory of God is the end game of all existence. And God is glorified by our hard work. But He is also given glory by our Sabbath rest. Those who throw themselves entirely into their work, as much as they may achieve in doing so, fail to achieve any glory for God in resting as He has commanded.

Work hard, rest well.

Prioritize rest and rigor; labor to create and to leave your labors to His hands.

day no. 14,403: eternal majesty

Psalm 48

God is the great King! So great, in fact, that when the kings of earth approach His throne, they immediately renounce their titles and fearfully flee. His majesty is His possession. He is not made King because of His crown, He is crowned because He alone is King. The kings of the earth are appointed or proclaimed, but none, like God, possess majesty as part of their DNA. Our God is God forever and cannot be removed from His throne. Neither death nor life can conspire to successfully usurp His eternal majesty.

day no. 14,402: patent blending

Exodus 30:37

And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.

God is reinforcing over and over again through the construction and consecration of His Temple that He is set apart in every way. Some things are just for Him and any pursuit of said things are not from a heart to walk as He walked, but to have what is His.

day no. 14,401: lessons on work, life and money

Exodus 30:14-15

Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives.

The terms and conditions of the census and subsequent tax do give us some insight into God's designs. First, anyone 20 years old and upward were considered to be working or established enough through a lifetime of work to pay the tax. Secondly, it was assumed that there were richer and poorer among God's people. Thirdly, there was no distinction between rich and poor with respect to the amount of tax owed. The rich person's life was not worth more and the poor person's life was not worth less. To make atonement for their respective lives, the same amount was paid because their lives were equal in value even if their bank accounts weren't. 

day no. 14,400: clap your hands!!!

Psalm 47

The God of all gods and the King of all kings is our God and King. This is a call for celebration and song and cheering and clapping and dancing and woot woot and yee haa!!! Of all people, we get to worship and wonder in the presence of the one, true God. So let's worship and sing like people who realize the privilege we have been afforded. Let's not take God for granted by living in ho-hummery. We, of all people, have reason to cheer!

day no. 14,399: thirty-two never looked so good

There is no one in the world I love more than my wife. I need her more than I need anyone else. I have seen a good deal of growth in me as a man over the years and much of that I can attribute directly to her femininity. Godly women spur men to be more and I have seen God grow me in response to her godly example and her godly prayers on my behalf. I am excited to celebrate her birthday today. God chooses the time and place for all people and I am happy He choose here and now for us to share this life and ministry together. Few people impress me like my wife. She is admired and adored by those who know her. If you don't, that's your problem (and watch you back 'cause I'm coming for you!!!).

day no. 14,398: sanctified by glory

Exodus 29:43

There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.

God's glory is a purifying agent. It burns away dross, it sets apart, it consecrates and anoints, but only for those He has chosen and applied the blood of the sacrifice. God's glory is a pure fire that creates purity by both consuming the stubble and refining the metal.

day no. 14,397: blood stains

Exodus 29:21

Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

God alone is holy. He possesses holiness as an attribute. He is unique and set apart in every way by this characteristic. Nothing is made holy without blood sacrifice. Without it, there is no forgiveness of sins, and anything with sin is excluded from holiness. This is why Aaron and his garments and his sons and his sons' garments needed to be sprinkled in blood. Even though they were the High Priests, the ones granted the most intimate access to God of any and all people in all of the world, they were not allowed to do so without being made holy. They were not holy in and of themselves. Without blood covering them, they could not survive an encounter with God.

day no. 14,396: our stillness acknowledges His movement

Psalm 46
It is easy to imagine that God is far off when things aren't going well. After all, He often feels closest when we are experiencing the gratitude of His blessings. But He is a very present help in very real trouble. He is not only not far away when things go wrong, He is very present. He is there and at the ready. He is a safeguard and shield, a firm foundation in slippery situations, a fortress to which we flee and find faithful, indomitable protection. He is a God of action and consequence, mission and accomplishment. So it should come as no surprise that we are then counseled to be still and know that He is God. Our stillness acknowledges His movement. Our deep breaths confess a knowledge of His sovereignty.

day no. 14,395: our great High Priest's heart

Exodus 28:15, 29-30

You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work… 29 So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. 30 And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.

The High Priest was to bear the judgment of his people on his heart as he approached the throne of judgment and the seat of mercy. He was to bring a judged people before a merciful seat. By a blood offering, he was to intercede for the sins of his people and himself and plead to be mercifully passed over. Jesus Christ would bear our sins on His heart as He hung on the cross. He had no sin of His own for which He had to atone; however. His pure heart held the weight of His people once for all and was pierced for our transgressions.

day no. 14,394: our great High Priest's shoulders

Exodus 28:11-12

As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. 12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

The High Priest was to bear the weight of all his people on his shoulders as he approached the throne of God. The High Priest was to remember them by bearing their weight on his shoulders. Jesus Christ would bear the weight of His people as our great High Priest as He lugged that cursed tree up that dusty road. Our High Priest has once for all bore our names and our sins before God on our behalf.

day no. 14,393: for glory and for beauty

Exodus 28:2

And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

I read this today and thought of my wife. I love how God is concerned with glory and beauty. It is the essence of femininity: the glory of man and the most beautiful of all God's creation. God commanded Aaron's garments to be made beautiful because they were going to enter directly into God's glory. For the reason then of making much of God (glory) skilled workers are to labor and toil to produce beautiful garments to adorn the priest prior to his entering the holy place. It's not all fully baked out, but I hope you can see how the connections were beginning to form in my mind. I like that she puts time into looking nice and that she takes her femininity seriously for the sake of glory and for the sake of beauty.

day no. 14,392: a good man good at being a man

Psalm 45

Everything women want men to be and everything men respect and admire in other men is here embodied: a compassionate, caring, just, strong, sword-wielding, enemy-subduing man. A man strong enough to assert his will, yet integrous enough to assert it only for cause of truth and justice. We want good, strong men to protect us from strong, evil men. If those who have our back are strong AND good, we rejoice and rest and fight with renewed vigor. This Man of men, Husband of husbands, Warrior of warriors, Judge of judges, King of kings, and Lord of lords is our God. He is mighty AND merciful to save. He is unconquerable and compassionate so that some enemies are subdued by saving them while others are subdued by squashing them.

day no. 14,391: yet again

Psalm 44

We have been first hand witnesses to the power of God in our own lives, in our own struggles. We know for a fact that it was His power that prevailed against our weakness -- which is why it is so difficult now to endure defeat. Before we found our hope in God, our winning was actually losing. And now that we belong to Him our losing is actually winning. What looked like success before was actually failure and what looks like failure now is actually success. Nevertheless, we beg God to manifest His power and strength on our behalf that we might rejoice yet again. May we again see idols toppled, sins overcome, chains broken, etc… May we see it again that we might give God the credit again. For God's sake we will be slaughtered all day long. For our sake, Lord, let us see victory once again.

day no. 14,390: the wedding veil

Exodus 26:1-14, 33
And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 

The first 14 verses of this chapter are dedicated to extensive detail regarding the curtains to be used in the construction of the tabernacle. And then this 33rd verse concerns itself in particular with the veil that would cover the Most Holy Place. As much detail as we observe in these verses, it pales in comparison to the detail God put into preparing and providing the true Curtain. 

Hebrews 10:19-20
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh 

Jesus' body was the true and perfect curtain that bridges the gap between God and man. His flesh was ripped and torn into pieces in order to dispel the distance between us, reconciling God and man, heaven and earth by His perfect life and sacrifice death.

The Heavenly groom lifted the bridal veil so that the newly married couple could see each other face to face.

day no. 14,389: diameter and circumference

Psalm 43

This song seems like a reprise of Psalm 42 which goes to show that depression is not a one-time thing that is easily fixed. It requires constant kicking to keep it from covering you like a blanket. But God is my exceeding joy; and light dispels darkness -- however, the greater the diameter of light, the greater the circumference of darkness. The more we believe in God, the more problems we should expect to observe.

day no. 14,388: the perfect pattern

Exodus 25:9, 40

Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. 40 And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

When God desires a particular, He provides a pattern. He doesn't demand something specific without providing specific instructions. He has communicated clearly what He requires. This attention to detail will manifest itself entirely in the Person and work of the High Priest, our Sacrifice and Temple, Jesus Christ. 

day no. 14,387: the difficulty of being downcast

Psalm 42

Jesus said that the thirsty and hungry are blessed because they will find refreshment and food from their Heavenly Father. Yet when your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth and your stomach feels like it is devouring itself, it is hard to imagine it's a blessing. When it is dark and you desire light, cold and you beg for warmth, lonely and long for love, stressful and the finish line seems so far off, it is easy to feel downcast. I love how the Psalmist speaks to his soul. It is so difficult to reason with feelings. They don't respond to logic. Which is why we don't let them lead. We lead our hearts into the truth and beg it to respond with new feelings, new affections, and new hope because there's new mercy available daily even when everything seems to be going wrong.

day no. 14,386: to dine or to destroy?

Exodus 24:11

And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

The people communed with God and He did not lay His hand on them. The implication is clearly that He could have, but didn't and instead made the decision to dine with them in this moment rather than destroy them.

day no. 14,385: pleasant words

Exodus 24:7-8

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

"All this we will do,"are pleasant words for a parent to hear… unless it is followed by doing what was forbidden and foregoing what was required.

day no. 14,384: strengths and weaknesses

Psalm 41

The one who considers the poor has reason to believe that God may help him endure life's difficulties, if only to restore them to their work of looking after the weak and powerless. Those of us who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak (Romans 15;1). Those who use their strength to serve will be renewed by the strength that comes from God

day no. 14,383: on your marks, get set, God!

Exodus 23:27-31

I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

God knows how to get us where He wants us to go. He is not just the starter pistol, He is the cup of cold, fresh water along the way and He is the finish line. He doesn't just give us direction, He guides us. He has thought it through and is never caught off guard. He brings us from one glory to another, little by little, as we fix our eyes and follow Him (2 Cor 3:18)

day no. 14,382: bogged down

Psalm 40

I've never been in an actual bog, but I imagine one of the most disconcerting things about it is its bogginess. It encompasses you and provides you nothing sturdy against which you might push yourself. It objectively envelops you with its abstraction. But God is a Rock. He is sturdy and can be counted on, stood upon, relied upon. Conversely, you can push off of Him. You can distance yourself from Him. One of the best things about the Lord is his immutability. But for some, the fact that He does not evolve is perceived as old-fashioned, out of touch, or irrelevant. But for us who glory in His unchanging, we sing new songs about His old ways. We find new ways to praise His faithful Name. We create opportunity to worship our Creator and His consistency. 

day no. 14,381: don't worry

Psalm 39

Something about a proper perspective puts everything else into place. Worry and anxiety are often cured by fast forwarding all the way to the end. Once it is affirmed that you will die, despite your best attempts to live forever, you can make much of what is most important and focus less on what is evaporating. There is less reason to worry or be anxious since most worries are about prolonging one's life as long as possible. 

day no. 14,380: the God of heaven above and holes below

Exodus 21-23

I am very grateful that the God of heaven is also the God of the earth. He doesn't just tell us how things should be (The Ten Commandments), He interacts with us as things are (The Book of the Covenant). The same God who dwells on high has wisdom for us here down below. He is not silent – from how we should worship to how we should dig a hole, our God has spoken. We have not been left alone to figure it out. And even more than that, He has sent His Son to live a life that fulfills the law and to die a death that atones for our breaking of the law.

day no. 14,379: finneas is six!!!

Finneas Haddon Foxe, you are a straight up stud. I love you so much. Happy Birthday my boy!!! You still suck your fingers when you're tired, you still love to cuddle during family night, you love to dance and have some of the best moves ever, you love being a big kid, you still need a nap most days, you love wandering around the house in your undies, unless company comes over and then you retreat to find a shirt and shorts, you are 110% at whatever it is you are doing: yelling, sleeping, smiling, pouting, dancing, fighting, loving, etc… I love everything about you. Happy Birthday!

day no. 14,378: the larger the gap, the bigger the Cross

Psalm 38

The more intimately a man knows the Lord, the more intensely aware of his own sin he will become. The more you know God, the holier you know Him to be, the more wretched you discover yourself. You are far worse than you originally imagined when first confessed your sin. But He is far more gracious than you originally estimated.

day no. 14,377: God's rock

Exodus 20:25

If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

The only ingredient man brings to his salvation is the sin that makes his salvation necessary. To add anything else is to subtract. To use our skill or will in bringing a sacrifice is to corrupt the very purity we need offered on our behalf. Stones hewn by God's hand are the foundation upon which acceptable sacrifice is received. There is only one foundation, one Rock, the one mediator between God and man, the God man, Jesus Christ!

day no. 14,376: cause and affect

Exodus 20:24

In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

God desires to bless. He causes the circumstances He chooses to reward. He makes His name to remembered, and then meets the memory with blessing. He is in control and flexes His sovereignty for the benefit of others.

day no. 14,375: lest we die

Exodus 20:19

“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

Oswald Chambers' comments on this verse from his February 12 entry in his classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, are astute:

We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servants only. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak to us? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. If it is only the servant’s voice we hear, we feel it is not imperative, we can say, “Well, that is simply your own idea, though I don’t deny it is probably God’s truth.”

day no. 14,374: fret bored

Psalm 37

Do not fret. Worry is faith in a bad future. Worry believes and acts as though something bad is going to happen. It just knows it. It is our capacity to fix our eyes gone astray. Faith focuses on God's goodness and fixes it eyes on future good from Him. Those who delight in God will have Him. If your heart's longing is to be with God, you will see your longing face to face. Those who delight in Him will be delighted to see Him.