Excess


Exodus 35:30-36:38
We will be reading through the remaining chapters of Exodus this week. They are largely repetitive of the previous chapters, but God put them in the book, so they deserve to be read – so don’t skip the Scripture reading!
http://www.esvbible.org/Exodus 35:30-36:38

The Children of Israel now execute God’s instructions regarding the building of The Tabernacle so we receive a summary of the plans. There is one verse that just demands attention in this review.

Exodus 36:2-7
2And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

As a church worker let me just say that is a dream situation! Too many resources? It boggles the mind. But lest I become too jealous it must be remembered that God still always provides exactly what we need to get the job done. His will and His work always go forth, no matter what. The Children of Israel were given exactly what God had proscribed and they were fulfilling His designs as commanded; as such, He provided all of the resources they needed. The fact that those resources came from hearts that were moved by love for Him is simply beautiful.

When we give to the Lord (and that doesn’t just include cash but also time and talent) we are merely giving back to Him what He has already provided. And this must always be seen as an act of worship. When you spend time teaching that Sunday School class, or you give your back over to shoveling snow, you are exercising a part of your worship life. God gives to us and we give back to Him as a sign of trust and love. It is a wonderfully symbiotic relationship.

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