God does not tell us to be and do something without helping us to achieve what He has told us to do.  God knows us.  God knows exactly what we need when we need it. 

When God made it apparent that He was calling Randy and I to leave Oklahoma to pursue his will and plan for us in another place, He made His Presence known to us in all kinds of ways with each step in the move.  He provided a buyer for our home, jobs that would provide for our family, along with soothing and comforting the family we would leave behind.  God sent us helpers and mentors to make the move and to settle in our new place.  Before we left, God even sent a new, young missionary to our garage sale to obtain all my teaching supplies so she could do God’s will in Russia!  You cannot tell me God is not in the details!  God loves all the details of our lives; His Word says so!  He proves it to us over and over again!

Friends, there are so many ways that God has provided as we follow His leading, day after day, year after year.  Our faith in Him is consistently blessed by God in so many ways, then and now, that there is not enough time to tell you!  Be sure of this truth.  When God says go, go without hesitation. When God says stay, put yourself in park and look up to Him for your next steps.  It is in “park” that we learn the most about Him!

Know this for sure, wherever God guides He WILL provide all we need to fulfill His will for each one of us.  Randy and I are living testimonies of God’s love, mercy and grace along with His provisions and protection.  He picked us up and dusted us off when we fell and created lessons from the failures while giving us more strength for the next step in our journey!  Yes, God is like that!  His blessings are greater still when He is growing His character traits in us.  He blesses us with challenging situations that cause us to lean into his wisdom, insight and understanding and learn from those growth times.

God also provides rest when we need it most.  We need rest.  If God rested, who are we to think we don’t need rest?  God commands rest to Moses as a way to take a breath and allow God to make us holy.  “‘Above all, keep my Sabbaths, the sign between me and you, generation after generation, to keep the knowledge alive that I am the God who makes you holy. Keep the Sabbath; it’s holy to you’”.

Camp on these thoughts—

God sent His Son, a part of Himself, to come to earth to be Son of Man and Son of God.  Jesus showed us how to live and to love, really love— not for selfish gain but because of God’s love for us.  “We love God because He first loved us.”  “Without God we do not know love—or God,” John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, relates to us throughout his gospel about Jesus.

Jesus, Son of God, was without sin.  Jesus, Son of Man, lived among the sinful in need of rescue.  Jesus saw, heard, and felt the real needs of God’s created as He walked in the neighborhoods of Israel.  As Son of God, directed by His Father, He healed, encouraged, loved and led people back to Truth—who is God.  He was the One and Only who could restore the relationship between God and man. 

This same God is directing Moses now with how He will provide for His Chosen as they learn and grow in their wilderness journey. 

Exodus 31, The Message

Bezalel and Oholiab

^1-5 God spoke to Moses: “See what I’ve done; I’ve personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I’ve filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood—he’s an all-around craftsman.

^6-11 “Not only that, but I’ve given him Oholiab, son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, to work with him. And to all who have an aptitude for crafts I’ve given the skills to make all the things I’ve commanded you: the Tent of Meeting, the Chest of The Testimony and its Atonement-Cover, all the implements for the Tent, the Table and its implements, the pure Lampstand and all its implements, the Altar of Incense, the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and all its implements, the Washbasin and its base, the official vestments, the holy vestments for Aaron the priest and his sons in their priestly duties, the anointing oil, and the aromatic incense for the Holy Place—they’ll make everything just the way I’ve commanded you.”

Sabbath

^12-17 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites, ‘Above all, keep my Sabbaths, the sign between me and you, generation after generation, to keep the knowledge alive that I am the God who makes you holy. Keep the Sabbath; it’s holy to you. Whoever profanes it will most certainly be put to death. Whoever works on it will be excommunicated from the people. There are six days for work but the seventh day is Sabbath, pure rest, holy to God. Anyone who works on the Sabbath will most certainly be put to death. The Israelites will keep the Sabbath, observe Sabbath-keeping down through the generations, as a standing covenant. It’s a fixed sign between me and the Israelites. Yes, because in six days God made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day he stopped and took a long, deep breath.’”

¹⁸ When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of Testimony, slabs of stone, written with the finger of God.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God guides and provides people and materials to do what He has commanded Moses to do.  He does that for us.  We need to listen to God before we do anything for God.  Follow His lead!

God provides a time to rest in Him, thinking of Him, thanking God for all He has done.  The Sabbath is a time set aside to “take a breath of holiness” that comes only from God who stopped to breathe after creating the world we live in!

“Yes, because in six days God made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day he stopped and took a long, deep breath.”

STOP right now and take a long deep breath in Jesus Name and ask God to give you what you really need—more and more of Him!  Exhale all that is wasteful thinking.  Inhale the breath of God!

Lord,

This is my prayer for all of us who believe on Your Name, lean on Your Wisdom with a desire to live in relationship with You—God, our Father in Heaven.  May we see your glory at work today, notice, and praise you with all that is in us.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!