All the tent pegs of the Tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze. – Exodus 38:20

Today's Scripture Reading (December 8, 2024): Exodus 38

A few years ago, I bought some furniture. Now, it was used furniture, and I wanted it for my basement, so I did not have a lot of expectations about what I was purchasing. However, I have to admit that the furniture did look good. It had been lightly used, and it was perfect for my needs. But it did not take long for the furniture to start to show problems. The furniture was no longer being used' lightly in a house with a couple of teenage children (and all of their friends). The first problems to appear were all of the places where the manufacturer had cut some corners. They were the places that had initially been hidden, but now the hidden was being revealed. 

Our attitude is often that if people cannot see it, then it really does not matter. And the principle seems to apply to so many areas of our lives. A while back, a friend asked me if it was okay to lie on his résumé. After all, it was the job he would do that mattered; as long as he did a good job, who cared about his work history. It was hidden, and, therefore, it did not matter.

We feel the same way about what we do inside our castles. The home is a sacred place, and what happens there is no one else's business. And neither are the hidden sins in our lives. As long as no one knows, and we can look okay in public, then what does it really matter what things are hidden underneath? But the reality in which I live is this: just like my furniture, the wear and stress of life will soon inevitably reveal what had been hidden. The secrets, in some way or other, will be exposed.

As God gives the plans for his Tabernacle, no area could be overlooked. Even the tent pegs, which would be hidden in the dirt, were to be made of a specified material: bronze. Bronze was chosen for the pegs because it was the hardest substance known at the time. Where the builders would have used stone, bronze became a longer-lasting, harder (and more expensive) alternative. Even when the Bronze Age began to yield to the Iron Age, the change would not be because iron was a better substance. Iron would begin to reign because it was more plentiful to find and easier to produce. But bronze was still, in many ways, superior.

But God wanted even the things that were hidden to be of the best quality for the job. And I think the example holds for the Tabernacle, the things we make with our hands, and even how we live our lives. As complicated a thought as this might be, we are to live with the sure knowledge that the hidden will be revealed one day.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 39