SCRIPTURE: Exodus 31
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. [Matthew 25:29] God has not been stingy. He has given us (collectively) all that we need to fulfill His good purpose for our lives. Our ‘poverty’ of spirit and life is not because He has failed to give us what we need, but because we have failed to receive it.
In Exodus 31, we see how God gives abilities to people to fulfill their task. The abilities we have are an indication of what God wants us to do. We also see how God blesses us with the gift of sabbath rest. We are not to be mindless work machines, we are invited to enjoy this life with God in His world. And we see the gift of God’s will, as seen in the two tablets written by the finger of God. God has shown us what the right life, the good life, looks like.
And yet for some reason, we do not use our gifts, we do not enjoy God’s rest, we do not follow God’s will. Though we have received in abundance, we live in poverty. We are like the servant who wasted his ‘talent’ [Matthew 25:14-30]. We have failed to receive what was given to us, and now we lose that gift as well.
What do we see then? We see people wasting their lives, their self-centered efforts amounting to nothing. We see people working themselves to death for nothing. In neglecting the sabbath rest, they neglect their souls. We see people doing what seems right to them, choosing whatever seems pleasurable, and ending up in misery. We have gifts (abilities), we have sabbath, we have an understanding of right and wrong – and yet we lose all of these things because we neglect them, we bury them. We are not miserable because God has failed us, we are miserable because we have failed God, and ourselves, and others. This is why this world is such a mess. Self-centered living will always result in misery. It may offer short-term gain, but it will always result in long-term pain. Guaranteed. Read Psalm 73.
If we neglect the gifts God has given us, we will lose what we have. If we invest God’s gifts (abilities, rest, moral law) for God’s purposes, we will gain even more. As Jesus says, we will experience the abundance of God beyond what we presently know!
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to see Your gifts to me, to appreciate them, and to use them for You and Your purpose.
Working seven days makes one weak. The tabernacle was a visible sign of God of God living among His people. His rules for living were clear – Do this and live, Rest on the Sabbath. Once again, we went our own way and not His. When the people of Israel served the Lord, we see time and time again, they were blessed. When they did as they were told, life was good. However, when they insisted upon their own way, their self interests, their lives fell apart into brokeness. Today is no different.
Help me Lord to obey Your Word each day of the weak. Help me to walk in the most excellent Way each day. Make me a servant this day.
Make me a servant, humble and meek
Lord, let me lift up, those who are weak.
And may the pray’r of my heart always be;
Make me a servant, make me a servant,
Make me a servant, today.