Monday, December 23, 2019
Exodus 36:1 says, Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded. Bezaleel and Aholiab did not work alone. We are told that every wise hearted man that God empowered worked with them. We are not told their names. Today, we may not know the names of everyone who is doing God's work, but that does not mean that there are not people doing His work. Verse two states, And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: Though this says Moses called Bezaleel and Aboliah and those that God had given wisdom and stirred up to do the work of building the tabernacle, I believe that this was because Moses was God's representative and God had led him to call them. Moses did not just pick out these people on his own. We today may ordain people into the ministry, or simply call on people to serve in a particular task in the church, but we must make sure that we ask if this is God's will. We must all rely on God's calling of people if we are to be the most effective in advancing His kingdom. Verse three declares, And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. The builders were given the materials that the people had given to build the tabernacle with, and they freely brought offerings every day to help support them. We must use what we have dedicated to God for a particular purpose, but we also must continue to support those who are doing God's work. We must do all willingly and cheerfully as God leads us to do. Verse four says, And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; Those who were working took time to come to Moses and speak to him about a problem. Verse five adds, And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. The problem was that the people were giving too much. This is not usually a problem we have today, but it would certainly be a good one to have. Imagine beginning a building project and having to tell the congregation that they had given too much. Of course, we today would probably just modify our plans and make something bigger. Verse six declares, And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. Moses told the people that it was time to stop bring more offerings. Once again, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say that today. Verse seven concludes, For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. Though they had just recently questioned where Moses was and made an idol of a golden calf to worship in his absence, they were now giving freely above what was needed to do God's work. We cannot allow past failures, our own or others, to keep us from freely given everything to God today once we have asked His forgiveness. The people had to make a choice to follow God before they began to give to Him. We today must choose to follow Christ before our offerings will really have any meaning. We cannot buy God's forgiveness, but once we accept it, we should give everything that God leads us to give to support His work, and we should do so freely and joyfully.
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