Of Pure Gold

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exodus 25:8, 9 NIV)

There is no detail missed in God’s directions.  It is chapter after chapter of exact detail.  Honestly, it can be very challenging to read if one is sleepy.  But one very important detail grabbed my attention as I read it recently:

“Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. (Exodus 25:37, 38 NIV)

“Its wick trimmers and trays are to be made of pure gold.” 

Wick trimmers . . . I don’t know about you but a wick trimmer for me is a pair of scissors I bought at the dollar store, and a there is no tray, there is a junk drawer.   Now I realize I live in the age of electric lights and am not in constant need of a wick trimmer but it still seems a little excessive to have it made of pure gold and to have a special tray. 

The care and detail that God put into EVERY part of this tabernacle, where He would dwell, is incredible to me.  There was nothing in it or used to build it that was ordinary.  It was all set apart and special because God would dwell in it. 

Living under the New Covenant, our heart is now the dwelling place for God . . . in context of what you just read let that soak in a minute.

YOU ARE set apart and special because God dwells in you!

We can look around the body of Christ and see the lamps, the focal pieces on the table that shine and create light for an entire room.  They are always easy to spot.  But we aren’t all the focal pieces some of us are the wick trimmers or the tray.  We are in the background unnoticed; doing jobs that others don’t even recognize.  We feel like we are the dollar store scissors that are used for what is needed and then thrown back into the junk drawer, to their forgotten place. 

But that is when we look through the eyes of man.  God does not see things that way.  Read these verses again:

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exodus 25:8, 9 NIV)

God has set a “pattern” before us as well.  He sees us as more, much, much more.  He has set us apart; we are an important detail, a dwelling place for GOD.  He has no junk drawer where he stores the wick trimmers.  The wick trimmers are special; they are made of pure gold and sit in a tray made of pure gold, on the table by the lamp.  The lamp that stands out and is recognized for what it does.  But could the lamp do its job without the wick trimmer?  And the tray . . . is there any purpose to it besides holding the wick trimmer?  I don’t know, but it was still special enough to God to be made of pure gold and set apart. 

As moms sometimes we feel like we get thrown in the junk drawers, the forgotten places of life.  We feel like a useless wick trimmer or a tray.  But God has no junk drawers and doesn’t dwell in the useless.  He has not forgotten you and the work that you have been given to do is of great importance to Him.