I just finished reading the book of Exodus and I really enjoyed it. I've read it before but this time, I really tried to savor what I was reading. You see, as a Christian I've always been partial to the New Testament because of the grace and mercy God showed to mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ, my LORD and Saviour. But lately, I've been really wanting to know and understand God even more. Of course, God is so big and amazing and powerful that I can NEVER truly know all there is to know about Him. He has, however, chosen to reveal certain aspects of Himself, through His written word. While reading Exodus, I loved seeing how God freed His people and the miracles he performed on their behalf.....what an AWESOME and powerful God He is!!
This time though, I'm really enjoying the Old Testament because I feel like I'm being reminded of how holy and righteous and powerful God truly is. Exodus is so full, starting with those brave mid-wives who feared God (Exodus 1:17), who were then rewarded by Him (Exodus 1:21), to Moses's birth and the faith of his parents in chapter 2. And then chapter 3 gets right into it with Moses seeing God in the burning bush. As I moved on, it goes right into God freeing the Jews and all of the plagues God brought to Egypt......then finally Pharoh lets them go and they leave only to have Pharoh go back on his word. God saves them again with the parting of the sea. God then feeds His people with food from heaven, manna, which they ate for 40 years! Chapter 20 gives us the ten commandments and chapters 21-23 tell how they're to live with each other and how the people are to deal with each other.....then there are several chapters on how the tabernacle is to be built. Chapter 32 broke my heart though. God had been performing miracle after miracle for them and they lost faith again and went back to their old ways, trying to worship their old gods (kinda like what we Christians try to do after God miraculously saves us from the penalty of our sin---ugh, I'm just like them, at times). Moses gets mad and throws the tablets on the ground and God is furious with the Israelites and is ready to consume them(chapter 32:9-10) but Moses pleads with the LORD and He relents. However there is a penalty to pay, as there is for all sin (Galatians 6:7-8). The journey through the wilderness then resumes, God gives Moses the commandments on stone, again. This is all great and exciting to me but what really touches my heart is chapters 35-36.
Chapter 35 starts with the gathering of all of the Israelites and then the people give gifts for the building of the tabernacle. Chapter 35, verse 5 says "Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, and offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,.....) . Verse 5 really stood out to me about how God wants us to give to Him with a willing heart. Verse 21 says "And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD'S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments." Then it goes on to explain how the tabernacle was to be built. I used to think this part of the Bible was a little boring until I started studying the symbolism. There was a reason God chose certain materials and certain colours because they have symbolic meaning. Gold symbolizes Deity or divine glory; silver, redemption; brass, judgement; blue, heavenly in nature or origin; purple, royalty; scarlet, sacrifice; wood, humanity, ect....there are also many 'types' of Christ. Suddenly it all starts to make more sense to me and I enjoy reading about all the intricate detail that goes into the building of the tabernacle. But the thing that blessed my heart the most and why I started writing this post in the first place is in chapter 36. The end of verse 6 says "......., Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. (verse 7) For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much." The people were so generous and so giving that they had to be told ENOUGH!!, 'we have too much', 'don't bring anymore!' I had the thought and I actually wrote this in the margin of my Bible , 'Wouldn't it be nice if Christians gave so much to the work of the Lord that they had to be told to not give anymore because there was too much?!? I mean, can you imagine? If God's people did that, then there would be enough for all the missionaries to get onto the field instead of having to spend up to 3 years on deputation, there would be enough for the church to take care of the widows and orphans, like they're commanded to in 1 Timothy 5. It got me to thinking, am I laying up for myself treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21) or am I greedily holding onto my 'treasures' on earth? Do I give 'with a willing heart'?
Yeah......I'm enjoying my journey through the Old Testament. Thank you LORD!!
