Commandments are to be followed, but suggestions give us the ability to apply human reasoning and human logic to God's clear Word, and make it into something which we want but not what God intended. It has been said, "When the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense, lest it result in nonsense". God's grace and mercy are clearly spelled out in Scripture, without which we would have no hope, yet, these Biblical truths do not give us the license to twist Scripture into what we want it to mean. If we want to enjoy the Spirit filled life and seek the path that God has for us, we would all do well to stop making suggestions out of God's commandments.

We can approach a portion like today's reading in Exodus 35-40, which is for the most part an exact retelling of Exodus 25-31 with few exceptions with a glazed outlook. If one were to count all of the chapters used to describe the tabernacle of God, it's contents, the building of them, etc, between the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Hebrews in the New Testament it comprises nearly 50 chapters of Scripture. So if God deems something this important, so should we. Notice how Moses starts in Exodus 35:1, "Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, "These are the words which the Lord has commanded you to do:". After Moses spelled out what was commanded, we read in 35:21, "Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments." So moved were the people that we read the results in 36:6-7, "So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary." And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done-indeed too much." Once the work was completed we read in Exodus 39:42-43, "According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work, and indeed they had done it; as the Lord commanded, just so they had done it. And Moses blessed them." When we get to the final chapter in Exodus, we read in 40:16, "Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did." Why was this so important? We read in Hebrews 8:5, "who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

No, we don't have to memorize the number of rings and the dimensions of each article of the tabernacle. But if God deems something important enough to spend 50 chapters on it, we should pay close attention to what He is conveying to us. If we slow down, we can see Jesus represented in every facet of this structure. So rather than being irrelevant, it has deep meaning and future fulfillment in the Person of Jesus Christ. If we reflect on our own personal walk with God, we would all do well to take God's Word at face value as Moses did. We would do well to read God's commandments as just that, not suggestions. We would do well to minimize our own interpretation and maximize His clear instruction. We would do well to see our lives as the book of Exodus concludes in 40:38, "For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." We would all do well to have God as the focal point of our lives, individually, in our families, and in our churches. That God's presence would dwell at the center of our lives in every area would truly be freedom from bondage.