The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 36:4-7,
"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."
"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."
As the building of the tabernacle began, the folks who had a heart to give their materials and treasure to the effort gave more than could be used. They had to be told to stop the giving!
We have no way of knowing if the people who gave to the project and the people who worked on it were some of the same individuals who participated in the idolatrous golden calf event and revelry that had recently taken place. In any event, here we see God's people as a group responding to God in a radically different manner.
I can't help but think that the generous nature of the people here was a result of God moving within their hearts. I'm not thinking that God manipulates people's hearts such that they cease to be their own independent moral agents, but it does seem to me that the Lord can very effectively move people's hearts when he has his own purpose to do so. This seems to me to be a great example of this.
Just speculating here...
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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