Exodus 40:34-38 the Glory of the Lord

6/18/10
Time Spent: 15 min
Main Idea: The glory of the Lord descended upon the tent of meeting and lead the Israelites throughout the wilderness through cloud or fire
What I Learned about God: God-centered living is God-centered leading
Summary: After the lengthy discourse on the setup of the tabernacle, God has now brought Himself into the tent of meeting; dwelling with His people. The big hoop-la that surrounds this book is mainly focused upon God’s exploits to the Egyptians (and make a far more interesting read), however, the real good news comes as God desires to dwell with His people. This is even taking into account the apostasy that Aaron brings upon the people through golden calf worship. The glory of the Lord “dwells” with the people and leads the people and has this two-fold function. The glory of the Lord becomes both an object of worship and of leadership.
Application: The glory of the Lord is a nice Christianese word that we like to throw around. However, we don’t feel the full brunt of its meaning when we neglect the power it has in leading our lives. God had placed Himself as an object of worship in the tabernacle and also the power to lead the people in the desert. I do not think these ideas are mutually exclusive, but rather goes together like peanut butter and jelly. You can’t have God-centered worship if you are not obeying His glory; or you can’t be lead by God unless you are worshiping Him. I try to fix sins in my life by trying to pinpoint the area in which I fall and doing the best I can to isolate and destroy the problem. However, I do not care to think how that it may be a greater problem and that is that I’m not worshiping the Lord. Thus, I need to realize that as I work on my own bouts with sins that I continue to place God-centered worship at the forefront.