The Lord previously told Moses In Exodus 25 that he was to take up an offering "from everyone whose heart prompts him to give...gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastplate." (Exodus 25:2b-7) These materials will be used for the construction of the tabernacle, for the manufacture of its furnishings, and to make the garments of the priests. In today's passage Moses collects this offering.
"Moses said to the whole Israelite community. 'This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastplate." (Exodus 35:4-9) Moses relates this list of materials to the people exactly as the Lord gave it to him. No one is forced to bring anything. They are not told precisely how much of each thing they are to bring. Instead they are to be prompted by their hearts to give. If everyone listens to what the Lord says to their hearts, there will be exactly enough of all these materials needed for the tabernacle project.
The Lord knows the net worth of each Israelite and He knows the state of each Israelite's heart. He may instruct the wealthy to give more, but not necessarily. If the wealthy are already used to giving as generously as they can with a cheerful heart, the Lord may tell them just to keep on giving the same percentage as usual to His work. Some of the Israelites of the middle or lower class may be asked to give more---percentage wise---than their wealthier fellow citizens. If any of them have been in the habit of hanging on tightly to what they have because their income is small, He may ask them to have more faith in Him by getting in the habit of devoting more to His work. I think He spoke to each heart in accordance with what each heart needed. If a person needed to step up his or her faith and learn to trust the Lord more, the Lord may have asked for a bigger percentage of their income. If a wealthy person was in the habit of giving a lot but not so much that it meant anything to him, the Lord might ask him to give a bigger percentage than he's been comfortable giving. In other cases the Lord might tell a person to give less than that person would like to give. This is because the Lord knows the future and whether or not something is about to come up that will require part of that money to be used for an expense the person doesn't expect to come their way. He will still honor their desire to give extravagantly but He may direct them to offer a smaller percentage than their generous hearts would like to give. (Note that I'm talking about offerings, not tithes, which are a different matter we'll get into later in the Bible.)
Jesus spoke on the matter of giving on one of the many days when He taught in the temple. He witnessed the wealthy throwing handfuls of money into the offering plate, but He also knew the amount they were donating was an amount they were comfortable giving. It wasn't so much money that it took much faith to let go of it. He also witnessed a low-income widow placing a very small amount into the offering and He said, "This poor widow has put into the treasury more than all the others." (Mark 12:43) She didn't put in more money literally, but she put more in spiritually because she had to exercise her faith to let go of the money. She was making the statement that she trusted the Lord to provide her needs, so even though she didn't have much, she was willing to give some of it to the Lord's work. She listened to what the Lord said to her heart and as a result she received a high compliment from the Lord Jesus Christ and was used as an example in His teaching. In addition I have no doubt the Lord supplied every need she ever had; anytime something came up I believe He came through for her every single time.
I've told the following story before when we were studying the book of Mark but it goes so well with our passage today that I'll repeat it. My mom, who was a wonderful woman of faith, used to tell me this story as an example of trusting God to provide. There was a time when my dad had been out of work for a while. The financial situation in the household was becoming pretty dire, but as usual Daddy drove Mom to church for the Sunday morning service. At that time my dad wasn't a Christian but he respected the church and he respected my mom's faith, so since she didn't drive back in those days he would take her to church every Sunday, drop her off at the front doors, and then visit with some of his relatives who lived nearby until time for the service to end. Though my dad wasn't a believer then, he respected the fact that Mom was in the habit of putting some money in the offering plate. He pulled out his wallet which contained their last two dollars and handed her one of them for the offering. She said that when it came time in the service for the offering plate to be passed around, she had a moment of doubt before the plate reached her. Her natural human tendency was to want to hang on to that dollar. She struggled over what to do but about the time the plate reached her the Lord prompted her heart to go ahead and put the dollar in. First thing the next morning my dad was offered a new job.
I feel like there are two main points we can take from my mom's story and from our passage today. One, Mom always firmly believed that Daddy wouldn't have been offered a job on Monday morning if she hadn't put her dollar in the offering plate on Sunday. She believed the Lord moved the heart of the person in charge of hiring to go ahead and call Daddy on Monday because she made a statement of faith in the Lord's ability to provide by putting the only money she had into the plate. Now don't get me wrong; the Lord wasn't going to let my parents starve. But if He told her to put that money in, and if she knew He told her to put that money in, and if she didn't do it, then I think as chastisement for her disobedience He might have allowed the financial struggle in the home to go on for another week or so before Daddy was offered the job. But I do not think He would have let them go hungry because my mother was His child and a good father doesn't let his child go hungry. Two, my mom's story proves to us that God knows exactly when and where and how much we should give. He knew it was safe for her to put her only dollar in the plate because He had a job on the way for my dad. If He hadn't had something lined up for Daddy then perhaps He would have cautioned her to hold the money unless He intended to bring some money into the household from another source to tide them over.
In the matter of giving we should always seek the Lord's will. He will tell us where to give, when to give, and how much to give. Then we can have peace in our hearts when handing our offering over. Then our faith in the Lord has a good opportunity to grow. If we are guided by Him we will not go wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment