Exodus 36

Exodus 36

This is a detailed chapter on building the sanctuary. To be honest, when I read these kinds of chapters, I am half paying attention. But the Spirit, as he does, made me notice two things. 

The first thing I noticed was the eager and joyful volunteering from skilled workers. They intricately used their skills to make a place worthy for God to dwell. It made me think of the church today. Do we joyfully come together to interweave our skills to display God’s glory? To show we the Church are the walking, breathing temple of God? I don’t think so….at least not very well. Our nation is divided. Our culture loves to cancel each other. We love to walk away when things get tough and selfishly cling to our gifts, talents, and resources. We don’t work to be unified for a greater good - that good being God himself. 

This leads me to my second point, they worked together to gather the material they needed. And stopped when they had a sufficient supply. They didn’t hoard it. They didn’t stop when it was too hard. They worked until they were complete. No more and no less. 

What discipline! What contentment! That is so much trust in each other and in God. There is a depth of understanding here that I just don’t see in us today. 

Church what would it look like for us to be disciplined in unity? In working for sufficiency? In sacrificing our money, time, and talents for the unification of the Church so that the presence of God may be displayed in his temple - the chosen ones of God? 

I know that I am prone to choosing my own comfort, my own happiness, and clinging to my own stuff for my own glory, but what could it look like if I joyfully and willingly surrendered those for God to be known to my friends, family, and neighbors? That I leveraged every detail of my life for people to see that God dwells within me, just as he did in the very sanctuary Israel is building in Exodus 36.