Tabernacling Tonight

This week was a joy as we learned about God instructing his children on how to make a house in which to worship Him: the tabernacle. We started class by gathering in a makeshift "tent" to help the children visualize and remember that the tabernacle was like a tent that the Israelites could carry with them as they traveled. Everyone liked being silly in our tent, which was really a table with a sheet over it. (I asked the children what it felt like in there, and Nicholas said, "Prison!" but didn't seem to mind at all!) We did talk about how we wouldn't have been silly in the real tabernacle, or even have entered the tent part, because it was such a special place.

The theme of our lesson was the importance of obeying God's instructions exactly, especially when we don't know why we are told to do things a certain way. I showed them a brownie mix and explained that I don't know why we have to put in one egg and not three -- but when I make the brownies if I don't obey the instructions and use only one egg as directed, the brownies won't turn out right. We did an activity putting puzzle pieces face down, with the children obeying instructions on where to put the pieces, without knowing why. When they finished and turned the puzzle pieces over, they saw why each piece had had to be placed in the exact spot as instructed -- so it would make a picture. One of the great delights of the activity was the ready willingness of Jacob and Nicholas to share their piece when we were one short. Also, the sweet spirits of the children as Mrs. Rabe bumbled along, trying to figure out where the pieces actually should be placed to make the puzzle work.

Then I told the story of God instructing His people with all the details of how to build the tabernacle (and contrasting God's perfect instructions with Mrs. Rabe's imperfect ones.) My husband's new ESV study Bible had some amazing color pictures showing the layout of the tabernacle and detailed drawings of the bronze altar, basin, candlestick, shewbread table, incense altar and the ark of the covenant. We talked about these six items in the tabernacle and how they reminded the people of certain aspects of the Lord -- and also pointed forward to Jesus. Then I reminded them that this was why it was so very important that the people do everything just as God had told them. They didn't know that the tabernacle was to say something about Jesus, to be a shadow of the Messiah to come, but God did. And every detail mattered. I praise God that He gave the Israelites the faith to obey. We played a game with cutout pictures of the tabernacle furnishings, putting them in their proper places in the tabernacle.

We learned our new verse (another long one), which is the Second Commandment forbidding the making of idols. I asked if anyone knew what an idol was. Patrick, C.J., SarahClaire, Jacob and others already knew the correct answer. Then C.J. said that a toy could be an idol. Then he stopped and asked, "But what if you love the toy, but you still love God more?" I was so happy to say that yes, yes, yes, it is okay to love the toy as long as you love God more. When you look from the toy to the Giver of the toy and love Him so much more, that is right, that pleases God! And Patrick said, "Because someday that toy will just be dust!" Everyone agreed and they all just seemed so happy to know this Truth, that God is their greatest treasure.

Our most fun of the night though was reviewing verses, using enlarged versions of the pictures found on the cards in the versepacks. Suddenly, C.J. looks at one of the pictures and says, "Wait, I have this picture!" He rifles through his verses and finds the picture that matches. Suddenly, he says, "Mrs. Rabe, I need to know what all these verses say. There are verses here I don't know." He started showing me verses and asking me, "What does this one say? What does this one say?" with so much urgency that my heart rejoiced. I think he wanted to learn the entire pack in one night! The Word of God is living active and does its work in His people. Praise God!