***Warning! This may be long, and I am not a gifted writer, but hang with me... there's a gold mine at the end... I hope!
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In homeschool this week, we are continuing our study on the Israelites. We are up to the point where Moses is leading the construction of the Tabernacle. Obviously along the way on this study, we have leaned countless time of the the Israelites sins, and short comings. And while, there are lessons to be gleaned from the failures of others, sometimes you just want to see someone get it RIGHT.
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| Scenes like this are all too common with the Israelites. |
It came so quick, and was so shortly documented that we almost missed it. ALMOST!
Exodus 35:4-9 is a good place to begin. Moses is telling the people what the Lord has commanded. "Everyone is invited to bring these offerings to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn, fine linen; goat hair for cloth; tanned ram skins...." the list goes on and on. Basically, God is commanding them to "dig deep" and to offer to the building of the Tabernacle, the best of what they possess.
This is a tall order, no doubt. They were no different from us, I presume. Most of us, when we have something of value, tend to think of KEEPING it, rather than GIVING it away. So you might expect that the pledge drive for Tabernacle materials would drag on for a while. How many of us tire of KLOVE's pledge drive? When will this be OVER?
Don't they have enough, yet??
Exodus 35:20-21 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. Okay, I'm mildly impressed. just as with us, it appears that there were some who were moved to give. No biggie, right? We do that.
It's what we read next that stopped me in my tracks, and made me wish I was an Israelite for just this one time... Here it goes... don't miss this! Exodus 36:2-7 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.” Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Did you catch that? There was a need in God's Kingdom. God commanded his people to fulfill that need.... and then... and THEN... They gave so much to the need that they had to be TOLD to stop giving. There was more than enough! Wow... this makes me want to hang my head and ask forgiveness of the one who gave it all to me in the first place... How about you??
Christmas is just around the corner,
and the dreaded questions
have already begun ...
"What do you want for Christmas?"
Sometimes, I just want to shout...
"I want the hungry fed,
the orphans clothed,
the love of Jesus shared,
and... NOTHING for myself."
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What do you really NEED this Christmas?
Please check back, because I think we can take our love of giving gifts, and we CAN BE like the Israelites. I've got some ideas that I will share with you soon.
I think we can give a gift of hope, a gift of education, a gift of HIS love this season, and you just might find that it was better than another gift you really didn't need in the first place. You just might find that in it's place is a much better gift... the gift of JOY that comes from
giving gifts that really matter!
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