Exodus 36-38

January 29

Exodus 36-38

Thankful people cannot help but respond. God told Moses to take up a free will offering of all the material needed for the building of the Tabernacle, the place where sacrifices would be made and where the priest would intercede for the people as they came into the presence of God. Chapter 35 tells about Moses’ request to the people and their willing response to bring “freewill” offerings to the Lord.

In chapter 36 the work begins on the Tabernacle, but they have a problem. The people are still bringing offerings. Morning by morning they bring offerings to the worksite. Finally the workers ask Moses to ask the people to stop. They had too much. Moses had to restrain the people from bringing more.

Exodus 38:24-25 give us some weights of the gold and silver brought. The offering was a little over a ton of gold and around three and three quarter tons of silver along with around two and a half tons of bronze. The value of the gold alone in current prices would be around fifty-three and a half million dollars. But what matters is that the craftsmen were able to build everything God had commanded Moses to build.

The people gave and there was enough. The people were willing to give whatever it took because they were thankful. As much as they grumbled and complained, deep down they were thankful and were willing to give from what they had to complete the task God had given them.

God commanded the Israelites build a Tabernacle by exact specifications as a place of worship. Jesus calls us to build His church by making disciples. What are we willing to give up in order to draw more people to Jesus? What do we need to do to grow as disciples and to help others to grow? Sometimes it is not the material goods, though money is needed to continue ministries in our community. Sometimes God wants us to sacrifice our time. Are we willing to make a free will offering of our time in order to help us grow spiritually and to help others grow?