#225 Alien Ways

So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”

2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work. Exodus 36: 1-6 NIV

I knew a man once, and a rare individual he was. It was often that someone would intervene with words to tell him enough, but everywhere he looked he seemed to find some need to which his charity could be employed. Many times the same men who said, "enough", could have well eased the burden by shouldering some of it with him. Many times the same men would later call him, when his services would be to their benefit. As a teenager, it shamed me into helping him, but I dare not say I shared his enthusiasm. Here we witness a whole nation, that with a heart to give and return to God those things that He has given them, must be restrained. It is of their freewill, not under the sword of tax or tyranny, and that can well be felt and known, because those entrusted with the gifts are the ones saying, "enough". We have but rare glimpses of this, men realizing the strength of their company rests mostly on the contributions of others, people concerned more with the emptiness of their neighbor's pantry then the latest celebrity gossip or trends. The rest of us will sit around and talk of such things, pointing out the problems of society, yet those men and women do not have so much time for complaint. There is far too much to be done, they are thankful that there are dishes to do, blessed to mow the neighbor's lawn for her, since her life is far more valuable to them than the inconvenience of her invalid. Those people realize that it is an issue of the heart, that compassion cannot spring forth of legislation, and that while greed may be rampant and the norm, they have somehow yet managed to change a small piece of the world around them. 

The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath. 24There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. 25The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered.…Proverbs 11:23-25

for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'…Matthew 25: 42-44

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. 27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1: 26&27