4/28 Devotions in Exodus

Exodus 25 The Giving of Gold

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.” (v. 2)

The Lord prepares our hearts for giving. He has a plan, and it will be accomplished. We are introduced here to the Ark of the Covenant, which God commanded Moses to make, and overlay it with pure gold. In order to do so, the people had to give an awful lot of gold for their offerings, and yet, they met the need, and more. Throughout the Bible we see a special blessing upon those who give freely and liberally to the Lord’s causes that the work might continue on, and that God would be glorified in it. “For God so loved the world that He gave”… and He keeps on giving. Giving, then, is Godly, and God-like. If we were to stop the verse right there, it still says it all, we would still see God Himself setting the pattern, and being our example. He asks us to do nothing that we cannot do, and He asks us to do nothing that He has not already done.

Giving seems to be on of the hardest “graces” that the Christian faces, and always has been, actually. It has never been easy to give of self, or of possessions that we hold dear, and yet Israel gave freely for the work of God. Gold is the gift of kings, the riches of royalty, desired by all civilized peoples everywhere. Giving then, is from the heart, and not merely from the purse. Though this gold was “borrowed” gold, it still has that effect on men, that it permeates itself in them to the extent that they lust after more of it, and yet they gave. This is an amazing thing, that these murmurers, and complainers, wondering in a wilderness of sin, could know the grace of giving. It is amazing too, that God had already prepared them to give by providing the gold for them from Egypt. What an amazing God! That which God gives us, He gives to pass on to others who may not live under the promise and blessings of God. Let’s be givers, and provide for those who are in need. One principle in giving, I believe, is to give to a need. We will talk of the principles of giving at another time, in another devotion.