Willing Hearts (Blogging Through the Bible)

Today in Exodus 35 we are back to the business of building and furnishing the tabernacle. 

Giving to God is an act of worship. God could have performed a miracle to supply everything that was needed in the building and furnishing of the tabernacle, but He chose instead to fund the work from the gifts of the people who had willing hearts to give.

The single characteristic of the people in Exodus 35 who were involved in the building and furnishing of the tabernacle was their willingness to give (Exodus 35:5, 21, 22, 29).

They had willing hearts.

An offering to God is what a person separates from what belongs to him/her and marks it as belonging to God.

The Tabernacle Offerings Presented

²⁰ And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. ²¹ Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. ²² They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. ²³ And every man, with whom was found blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought them. ²⁴ Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze brought the Lord’s offering. And everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. ²⁵ All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. ²⁶ And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats’ hair. ²⁷ The rulers brought onyx stones, and the stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate, ²⁸ and spices and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. ²⁹ The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done. ~Exodus 35:20-29

Everything we have comes from God and ultimately belongs to God. Moses presented the need to the Israelites of all that was necessary in the building and furnishing of the tabernacle. Verse 20 of Exodus 35 tells us that once the need was presented, the people departed from Moses. I suppose they went back to their tents to think about (and hopefully pray about) what their offering would be.

Do you remember how the Israelites got those items that were specifically needed in the building and furnishing of the tabernacle? We have to go back to Exodus 12:35-36 to find out...

³⁵ Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. ~Exodus 12:35-36

God had given the people favor in sight of the Egyptians before they left Egypt! He had given them specific instructions on what to ask for! With God's favor resting on the Israelites, the Egyptians granted them everything they requested!! Wow!

We see in verse 22 of Exodus 35 that both men and women came back to Moses with the offering they separated specifically for God from what they had been blessed with when departing from Egypt.

They gave with willing hearts.

Gifts from goat's hair to gold - no offering was too small. And all gifts were needed. It didn't matter whether the offering was as small as the goat's hair or as expensive as the gold.

What mattered was the willing hearts that gave.

It's important that whatever offering we present to God - whether it be with our own tithes and offerings, our time and talents, or how we serve our families...it all must be done with willing hearts to be considered an act of worship to God. It's not worship if we are grumbling under our breath where no one can hear us (oh, but God can!) or complaining out loud taking all the joy out of whatever it is we are giving.

Let's be cheerful givers (2 Corinthians 9:7). It all starts in our hearts.


It's hard to believe we have only ONE WEEK left in the book of Exodus! Please join me next week as we finish reading and studying in Exodus 36-40.

Here are my SOAKs for Thursday and Friday:

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Exodus 34

Scripture: Exodus 34:5-9

⁵ Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ⁷ keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸ So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

Observations: Moses, hidden in the cleft of the rock (Exodus 33:21-23), sees the glory of God as God reveals His character to him in these verses. 

God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, and forgiving to those who would receive His love and forgiveness.

Moses bows his head and worships in response to this revelation of God and then he intercedes on behalf of himself and of the Israelites and prays for God to be present with them.

Application: What is my response to the revelations of God in my life? Do I take the time to intercede to God on the behalf of those I love and for the lost of this world? Do I pray for the presence of God in my life with sincerity and hunger like Moses did?

I love this quote from David Guzik: “When we come to know who God is and all His great love for us, the most practical thing it makes us do is worship Him more than ever.” Amen!

Kneel: Heavenly Father, I worship you today for Who You are in my life! You’ve shown me so much of Your glory through the life You have given me. Through all the highs and lows of my life, I have seen Your loving hand working all things together for my good. Thank You for helping me to see how important it is to praise You in the storms of this life, knowing that You are shaping my character with Your character through those times. Thank You also for the beautiful mountaintop experiences of my life where I have been given the opportunity to shout Your praises. Help me to never lose sight of the opportunities to know more of Who You are as I travel down the roads of this life. It’s in the powerful name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Exodus 35

Scripture: Exodus 35:5

⁵ ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶ blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ⁷ ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; ⁸ oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; ⁹ onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.

Observations: Everything that was needed for the building and furnishing of the tabernacle would be taken up in an offering to the Lord. Whoever had willing hearts to give from what God had blessed them with when they left Egypt (Exodus 12:35-36) would give in this offering.

Application: All that we have is a blessing from God’s hand of provision. Our hearts should willingly give back to Him in our tithes and offerings and with our time and talents. Giving is an act of worship to God. We should be cheerful givers because God loves it when we give with willing hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Kneel: Heavenly Father, I want to say thank You for all of Your blessings. You have been so faithful to provide everything that we need in this life. Help us to give back to You with willing hearts so that the work of Your kingdom can continue to reach out to the lost of this world who need to hear the Good News of redemption through Jesus Christ. May the willingness of our hearts to give cheerfully flow over into every area of our lives so that we can love others well. In the life-giving name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

I'll see you back here on Monday for another Blogging Through the Bible post! Have a great weekend, friends!

Walking in His Grace, 
Laurie


I'm linking up with Courtney Joseph over at Women Living Well, home of Good Morning girls for Blogging Through the Bible! Click on the image below to read Courtney's post today and posts from others who are BTTB too!

 

Pleading for God's Presence (Blogging Through the Bible)

Do you have difficult moments in your life where you find yourself pleading for God's presence in the situation you are facing? I know I do.

I'm going through a time like that now.

I need to feel the presence of God in my situation and so I go to Him multiple times throughout the day...

...pleading for God to be present with me as I seek to walk in His will for my life.

Sometimes when we can't see God moving in our situation, we take matters into our own hands.

That's kind of like what Aaron and the Israelites did in chapter Exodus 32:1-5. They grew impatient waiting on Moses to get back from meeting with God, so they fashioned a golden calf - from their ornaments that were to be used in the building of the tabernacle - to worship as a false representation of the One True God.

They broke covenant with God. And now in chapter 33 of Exodus, we see the consequences that they now face because of their sin. It's a great lesson for us today to not get impatient when waiting on God to move in our situation, that there are consequences to our sin, and the steps we can take in pleading for God's presence in our lives.

Let's look at the consequences the Israelites are now facing because of the sin of the golden calf they fashioned.

"Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." ~Exodus 33:3

God told them they could still go up into the Promised Land, but He would no longer be with them in the close, personal way He had been with them before they sinned against Him with the golden calf.

This was a personal test for Moses and the Israelites.

A test of whether they desired the blessing more than the Giver of the blessing.

If they accepted God's arrangement, it would prove to Him that the people loved God's blessings more than they loved Him. On the other hand, if this test had them pleading for God's presence, then it would prove to God that they truly loved Him more than the blessings God could give them.

"To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else." (Lloyd-Jones)

Are you pleading for God's presence in your life? Moses and the Israelites did.

"And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments." ~Exodus 33:4

This was the first step in the Israelites' spiritual restoration and revival in their hearts after their sin against God.

The Israelites mourned the possibility of losing God's presence. Their mourning showed God that they cared about their relationship with Him, not just what He could give them.

The Israelites showed their repentance by not adorning themselves with their ornaments - ornaments that were to be used in the building of the tabernacle that they had taken from to use in the fashioning of the golden calf! They even stripped off of themselves the ornaments they were wearing to take on a posture of mourning for their sin against God.

"So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb." ~Exodus 33:6

This was the second step in the Israelites' spiritual restoration and revival in their hearts.

Do we have sin in our lives that we need to remove and repent of?

Moses took the lead in the third step in the Israelites' spiritual restoration and revival of their hearts.

"Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door." ~Exodus 33:7-10

Moses took his tent, pitched it far outside the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting! If that isn't pleading for God's presence, I don't know what is! By pitching his tent outside of the camp to serve as the tabernacle, Moses clearly drew a line to see who truly longed for the presence of God.

The Israelites followed Moses leading, and each time they saw Moses going out to the tabernacle, they stood at their own tent door - watching for God's presence to descend in the pillar of cloud at the door of the tabernacle - so that they could worship too at the door of their own tent.

What a beautiful picture of pleading for God's presence!

When we hunger and thirst for the presence of God in our lives, we can impact the lives of those around us to hunger and thirst after the presence of God in their lives too! When we make time to actively seek the presence of God in our lives - by worshiping Him through prayer and time in the Bible - others will be influenced by what they see us doing in our own personal relationship with God!

More than anything, I want my worship of God to draw others into a desire to worship God too. 

That's what happened with Moses and Joshua!

"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle." ~Exodus 33:11

Joshua was so impacted by Moses' personal pleading of God's presence in his life and of his worship of God that Joshua chose not depart from the tabernacle! WOW!!

Pleading for God's presence will not only change our lives, but it has the potential to change the lives of those around us!

That's the prayer I have for my life! Is that the prayer of your life too?

Then, pray with me...


Oh, God, my heart longs for Your Presence! Meet with me I pray as I open Your Words in the Bible. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear what Your Holy Spirit is saying to me each time I sit at Your feet. Put in my heart an urgency for prayer - let it be broken by the things that break Your heart. I'm pleading for Your presence in my life, Father God. May my worship of You influence the lives of those around me to long for Your presence in their lives too so that they too will live a life of worship to You. In the mighty and saving name of Jesus I pray. Amen!


Here is our reading plan for the rest of the week:

Here are my SOAKs for Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Exodus 32

Scripture: Exodus 32:11-14

¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Observations: Moses intercedes in prayer to God on behalf of the Israelites who have sinned against God by making an idol of a golden calf. In his prayer, Moses reminds God of His word spoken concerning Abraham, Isaac, and the people of Israel and His promise to give them the land of Canaan. The Lord relents from the disaster He spoke of bringing on His people because of Moses’ prayer and the truth that God will hold true to His spoken word.

Application: I am a big advocate of praying the Scriptures back to God! This is so thrilling to see that Moses prayed God’s spoken promise back to Him when he interceded for the sin of the people in making the idol. 

Isaiah 55:10-11 confirms to us that God will be true to His word: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Also, 1 John 5:14 tells us, “If we ask anything according to His will He hears us.”

As a great friend and evangelist, Pastor Kenny Greenway preached at a revival service years ago in our church, “You want God to answer your prayers? Pray His Word back to Him!” I have never forgotten his words and have been diligent in memorizing Scriptures that I can pray back to God concerning my life and the lives of my loved ones.

Kneel: Heavenly Father, I thank You that Your word never returns void, but to accomplishes what it is sent forth to do. I thank You for the promises of Your Word that I can stand on while I journey through this world. More than anything Father, I desire to be in Your will, and that those I love would walk in Your will for their lives too. Help us to hide Your Word in our hearts so that we might not sin against You and so that we can pray in Your will. In the powerful name of Jesus I pray. Amen! 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Exodus 33

Scripture: Exodus 33:11

So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

Observations: God met with Moses and spoke to him clearly and plainly. Moses had pitched his tent outside the camp and used it for the tabernacle. Moses would return to the camp when he was finished meeting with God. But Joshua didn’t depart from the tabernacle. Joshua was drawn into his own worship of God by the example of Moses.

Application: Oh, that my life of worship to God would draw others into their own personal worship of God!

Kneel: Heavenly Father, I thank You for the privilege and honor to worship You! May my life of worship to You be an encouragement and example to others so much so that it would impact their hearts and lives to seek to live a life of worship to You too. Thank You for meeting with me through prayer and through the reading of Your word. Help me to give prayer and Bible reading the priority in my life that is necessary to grow in my relationship with You. I love You and praise Your holy name. In the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

I hope your heart is as full as mine is today! I'll see you back here on Friday for another Blogging Through the Bible post!

Walking in His Grace, 

Laurie

Why the Sabbath STILL Matters (Blogging Through the Bible)

I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left in the book of Exodus! What a journey this has been, and I'm so thankful you have been with me! After we finish in Exodus, we will be in the book of Matthew.


Let's jump in to our reading for this week, friends!

As I read today's chapter, I knew I wanted today's post to focus on why the Sabbath STILL matters. My time of study has helped my understanding to expand beyond a "day of rest" which is still important, to include another very important truth about the purpose of the Sabbath. I excited to be able to share with you what I've learned and why indeed the Sabbath is still very important to the life of a child of God.


Here is my SOAK for today:

Scripture: Exodus 31:12-14

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.

Observations: The Sabbath commandment is so important because it deals with our relationship with God and our worship of Him. Even Jesus knew that to love the Lord God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and with all our strength was one of the greatest commandments. We cannot love like this if we make no time to rest in the presence of God and to worship Him. This commandment was a sign between God and man that was (and continues) to set us apart from this world as His children.

Application: We worship God by making time to spend in relationship with Him rather than being consumed with the things of this world. We get to a dangerous point when we let the things of this world push out our time of worshiping Him by finding the time to be in His Word daily and communing with Him in prayer. To be sanctified is to be set apart for a specific purpose. God initiated times of Sabbath so that we could be in fellowship with Him because He knew left to our own initiative, we would not seek Him on our own.

Kneel: Heavenly Father, help us to guard our time with You every day. We all are in different seasons of life, but help each one of us to remember our daily time with You and to make sure we are not neglecting our worship of You by reading the Bible and praying to You. Help us to hold one another accountable in a loving and merciful way so that we all can live our lives set apart for Your glory and so that we can draw others into a saving relationship with You from the fruit that will come into our lives from our time spent with You. In the saving and life-changing name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

Here is our reading plan for this week:

I'll see you back here on Wednesday for another Blogging Through the Bible post!

Walking in His Grace, 

Laurie