Simple Obedience Brings Great Glory
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
In 1 Corinthians 3:9, Paul said "For we are God’s fellow workers." It is not that God needs us as much as he chooses to work with us. Cooperating with God's plan always produces blessing and brings His glory.
In our text, when the priests brought in the Ark of Covenant and placed it in the tabernacle in the manner that God had prescribed, God's glory immediately filled the place.
Sometimes we complicate things that God has made simple. David learned this in 2 Samuel 6 when God's instructions were ignored resulting in the death of a man named Uzzah. When God's glory doesn't manifest we feel disappointed, question God, doubt ourselves, and look for complicated solutions.
From the days of Moses and David and Solomon, to today, the key to God's glory has always been the same: Follow God and His word with simple, uncomplicated obedience. As people of faith through Jesus Christ, God's glory is not something we need to see. His presence is something that we know and sense in and among us.
After obedience, we can step back and watch God work: "When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD." (v. 10)
A similar thing happened after the simple obedience of leaders and believers in the "upper room" in Acts 2:1, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
We should expect no less today!
