And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
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.
And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,
Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.
And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
A Doctor performed successful eye surgery on a boy of five who had been born blind. When the grateful child left the hospital, he gave the doctor his beloved teddy bear that had been his companion since infancy. The ragged bear had only one arm and one eye. In the surgeon's office sits a little brown, battered bear with a sign which reads: "The largest single fee I have ever received for professional services.”
Wanting to give makes the smallest gift acceptable to God. It was the poor widow that Jesus noticed at the temple treasury because she was willing to give everything. Jesus told His disciples that she gave more than all of the others (Mark 12:43).
Grateful hearts want to give. For that reason God is pleased with a willing gift no matter how small. Such a gift is a gift of the person; the gift that God desires.
The greatest gift that you can give to God is the gift of service to your fellow man with the ability and resources you presently have. Someone said, "Where the heart is willing it will find a thousand ways, but where it is unwilling it will find a thousand excuses.”
And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the
LORD commanded, saying,
Take ye from among you an offering unto the
LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,
And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,
And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded;
The tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his taches, and his boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets,
The ark, and the staves thereof, with the mercy seat, and the vail of the covering,
The table, and his staves, and all his vessels, and the shewbread,
The candlestick also for the light, and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the light,
And the incense altar, and his staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entering in of the tabernacle,
The altar of burnt offering, with his brasen grate, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
The hangings of the court, his pillars, and their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court,
The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords,
The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
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.
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them.
Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD's offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it.
And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair.
And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;
And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
It was a mid-January morning and Funke was the star of the day. A young Christian woman, about thirty-two, she appeared at our apartment at 10:30 that morning. Word had reached her that my wife was ill. "Typhoid Fever“ the doctor said. And with one baby in diapers and another "in the making," it wasn't convenient timing for us.
Once inside, Funke had but one question, "Where's your clothes basket?" As I pointed, she ascended the stairs with a bounce, returning with the diaper pail and all the clothes she could carry. With a smile she departed. At that moment, I did not know what had just happened. But, later that afternoon when Funke returned with clean, neatly folded laundry, I knew. We had just been given about the most precious gift ever received: A spontaneous offering of Iove.
Of course, that is the kind of gift our Father desires; gifts which generous hearts prompts. Amidst all the modern religious organizations, programs and NGOs, it is easy for us to lose sight of this. Yet, what our Father really wants is not "Millions of our money" so much as big hearts, hearts which respond in love to Him.
