When Slowing Down Makes Sense - Keeping God in the Center

It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, a lot of things in life don’t (make a list of ten things that don’t make sense to you and email or mail the list to me – dergermanshepherd@gmail.com, Pastor Hans, 4175 Abeto Street, La Grange, Ca 95329). The ancient Israelites left Egypt to go to the “Promised Land” and then on their way, out in the wilderness God stops them to construct a Tabernacle, a portable Temple. It doesn’t make sense; why not get the people as quickly as possible to their new home, and then build a temple?It was twelve months after they departed from Egypt when they set up the tabernacle for the first time. New Year’s Day to be exact (Ex.40:17). So for months they stopped to build the Tabernacle according to God’s specifications.What was the tabernacle? It was God’s tent, where God dwelt, right in their midst. When they set up camp the Tabernacle was the center, encircled by the Levites, and then surrounded by the other tribes (Numbers 1-3).Remember, God invited the Israelites into a covenant relationship with Him (Ex. 19). He did not force them, but they accepted. Just like God now invites us into a covenant relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Once you are in a relationship with God the challenge is living with God. Having and maintaining that relationship with God is more important than getting to the “Land flowing with Milk and Honey,” more important than “going to heaven.” So God slowed them down to construct the Tabernacle.They needed to learn how to live with God, how to stay connected with Him, how to foster their relationship with Him. Too many who call themselves Christians got saved, were born again, and haven’t slowed down since. Too many Christians have God living at the edge, the fringe, the margin of their lives, far from the center. Too many have never slowed down to carefully build a “Tabernacle,” to learn the habits that keep God in the center. Maybe it is time to slow down to construct a life that is truly centered on God, a life that has time for the activities within the curtains of the Tabernacle: Awe, consecration, sacrifice, gratefulness, God’s word, prayer, forgiveness, worship.What will your life look like a year from now? Will you have build a “Tabernacle that moves to wherever life takes you, a life with God in the center?To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans