Exodus 35-37 Willing and Able

It was time to gather materials and to construct the Tabernacle and everything associated with it.  God supplied the skill needed to accomplish it by filling “Bezalel with the Spirit of God and by giving him the skill, ability, and knowledge to do all kinds of work … also the Lord has given Bezalel and Oholiab … the ability to teach others.”  I thought about what it must have been like to have received that skill from God and to have been selected for the task of constructing the Tabernacle and everything in it, including the Ark of the Covenant.  A normal person would probably worry a lot about whether they could perform the task and whether they’d messed up at any point without knowing it, but I imagine that these two men worked with a God-given confidence in everything they did, amazed by how the designs just appeared in their minds unbidden!

 

Something else caught my eye – “Let everyone who is willing bring this offering …”  The Egyptians had loaded the Israelites up with treasure as they were leaving their country, and now God was going to use that treasure to construct the Tabernacle.  “Everyone who wanted to give came and brought a gift to the Lord.”  It was entirely voluntary.  God didn’t want any part of the Tabernacle to have been given grudgingly.

 

Each morning additional gifts would arrive, entirely voluntarily, to the point that a good problem developed:  “The people are bringing more than we need to do the work the Lord commanded,” Bezalel reported to Moses.  Moses finally had to issue a command for them to stop giving!  “So the people were kept from giving more…”

 

I think these people realized that everything they had was God’s, and they also trusted God to take care of their material needs.  It wasn’t like they’d be passing large malls on their journey and wouldn’t have the money to buy anything.

 

These people had gotten with the program, trusted God, and were more than willing to help.  God said nothing about those who didn’t give anything.  After all, He’d made it voluntary.  Those people had missed out on a chance to be a part of something big God was doing.  When it was finished, they surely realized their loss and the fact that God had gotten it done without them.  What a sinking feeling that must have been. 

 

Father, I pray that You will fill me with a spirit of giving whenever You present a need.  Remind me of how much I’ve benefited by the generosity of others You’ve raised up.  Help me to want to be a part of everything You’re doing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford