God gave Moses the instructions on
everything concerning the building of the Tabernacle and Moses
followed all the instructions down to the letter. He did everything
exactly as God had commanded him. He also didn't try and do all the
work himself, no he had learned an important management lesson, he
delegated the work to the Israelites and to those God has blessed
to be able to do the work. And it is wonderful to see that they
obeyed him down to the letter.
'The Israelites had done everything
just as the Lord had commanded Moses.' Exodus 39:32
'So the people followed all of the
Lord's instructions to Moses.' Exodus 39:42
'Moses proceeded to do everything
as the Lord had commanded him.' Exodus 40:16
Notice that they didn't build the
tabernacle 80% according to God's instructions, or even 99% right,
no they built it 100% right as God commanded them to. They were
careful to obey even the smallest detail.
And we can learn from them. When
God gives us something to do, we need to obey Him. And we need to
obey Him 100%, as partial obedience is seen as disobedience. King
Saul learned that lesson the hard way. War broke out between Israel
and the Philistines. Samuel had instructed King Saul to gather his
troops at Gilgal and to wait for him there. Saul did just that, he
was obedient and he patiently waited for Samuel to come. Samuel
also told him that he will offer a burnt offering to the Lord when
he came and only then can they go into battle. But now Samuel took
a while to come. I think it was probably on purpose to test Saul's
obedience. Saul waited for 7 days for Samuel to come and while he
waited he saw that his troops were slipping away from him and it
all got too much for him. He decided to offer the burnt offering
himself and to go into battle without Samuel. And lo and behold,
right after Saul offered the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. And
look at Samuel's stern words:
"How foolish!" Samuel exclaimed.
"You have disobeyed the command of the Lord your God. Had you
obeyed, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel
forever. But now your dynasty must end." 1 Samuel 13:13, 14
Wow, talk about harsh words! Now if
we look at it, it would seem that the punishment doesn't fit the
crime. He only disobeyed the Lord on one small point. After all, he
did go to Gilgal and he did wait for 7 days. It would seem very
harsh to take his whole kingdom from him due to this. I think most
of us have done far worse things than this.
But it just shows how strongly God
feels about obedience, more specifically 100% obedience. He wants
to see whether we are truly on His side, or will we fall at the
first test that comes our way? I have learned that lesson. God
doesn't want a half hearted attempt, He wants your best attempt,
and He wants you to give your everything for His sake. Don't lose
out on your 'kingdom' here on earth and all that God plans for you,
simply because you weren't prepared to go the last mile. Learn a
lesson from Moses, God's friend, and obey God 100%.
Father, please forgive our half
hearted attempts. Please forgive us if we don't obey You fully in
everything that You tell us to do. We are so sorry that our selfish
ambitions sometimes come in the way. Please help us to rather focus
on You and all that You are, and then we will see that Your plans
are good and that 100% obedience is the best way forward. In Jesus
Name. Amen