It is a great day of rejoicing when we clearly see God’s vision for what HE wants.  When we understand God’s perfect will and live to accomplish it; we experience His peace and joy in all circumstances.  Knowing and believing God is in it, nothing holds us back from accomplishing what He tells us to be and do under His guidance.  Why?  Because we have also been set free from the bondage of sin, fully forgiven by Jesus who took our place of punishment.  With humbled gratitude for what has been done for us, we do all for God’s glory!  All this begins by offering ourselves to God.  (Romans 12:1-2)

Imagine Bezalel working away in his makeshift workshop in the wilderness as he puts the collected gold in the fire, molds it to God’s specifications and fashions it into beautiful works of art for the Tent of Meeting with God!  What must he be thinking as he works hard, led by Moses, to fulfill every detail of God’s design.  On top of all that, we must not forget that as he uses his God-given talents, shaped by his work in Egypt as a slave, Bezalel now works to accomplish God’s will as a free man!  Gratitude to God makes everything we are and do turn out beautifully!  This is what God is showing me through this passage today. 

Believe and be free.  Only then will God’s Word make sense in our lives. 

Exodus 37, The Message

The Chest

37 ^1-5 Bezalel made the Chest using acacia wood: He made it three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide and deep. He covered it inside and out with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He cast four gold rings and attached them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. He made poles from acacia wood, covered them with a veneer of gold, and inserted the poles for carrying the Chest into the rings on the sides.

⁶ Next he made a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and a quarter feet wide.

^7-9 He sculpted two winged angel-cherubim out of hammered gold for the ends of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. He made them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. The angels had outstretched wings and appeared to hover over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on the Atonement-Cover.

The Table

^10-15 He made the Table from acacia wood. He made it three feet long, one and a half feet wide and two and a quarter feet high. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold and made a molding of gold all around it. He made a border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. He cast four rings of gold for it and attached the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.

¹⁶ Out of pure gold he made the utensils for the Table: its plates, bowls, jars, and jugs used for pouring.

The Lampstand

^17-23 He made a Lampstand of pure hammered gold, making its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. It had six branches, three from one side and three from the other; three cups shaped like almond blossoms with calyxes and petals on one branch, three on the next, and so on—the same for all six branches. On the main stem of the Lampstand, there were four cups shaped like almonds, with calyxes and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches. The entire Lampstand with its calyxes and stems was fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold. He made seven of these lamps with their candle snuffers, all out of pure gold.

²⁴ He used a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories.

The Altar of Incense

^25-28 He made an Altar for burning incense from acacia wood. He made it a foot and a half square and three feet high, with its horns of one piece with it. He covered it with a veneer of pure gold, its top, sides, and horns, and made a gold molding around it with two rings of gold beneath the molding. He placed the rings on the two opposing sides to serve as holders for poles by which it will be carried. He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with a veneer of gold.

²⁹ He also prepared with the art of a perfumer the holy anointing oil and the pure aromatic incense.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Although Bezalel oversaw the construction of each item for the tabernacle, Moses personally saw to it that every piece of furniture and every utensil was anointed and placed where it ought to be. God could not and would not dwell in the tabernacle unless everything was done according to the pattern He showed Moses on the mountain (See Exodus 25)

We must listen to those who have been with God as we work together to fulfill what He has given us to be and do.

Look at the significance of The Altar of prayer.  The priests were warned not to use this golden altar for anything other than burning incense (Ex. 30:9), for there are no substitutes for prayer. No amount of sacrificing can take the place of true praying. The golden altar wasn’t a place for making bargains with God or trying to change His mind. It was a place for adoring Him, repenting of sin of self, and praying, “Your will be done.”  The priests will come to represent God’s People at the Altar of prayer. 

We do not need a representative today!  Jesus tore down the curtain between God and mankind when he paid the price to redeem us and set us free forever!  Jesus came to earth to be the Way, the Only Way, the new way to fulfill the commands of God to mankind.  As Jesus’ disciples watched Him pray to God and leave the conversation with peace, they asked Him to teach them how to pray.  You see, pray, that communion with God, seemed to have gotten lost over the centuries and became a mockery of priestly pride. 

Oh how it must have pleased Jesus for his followers to ask for this teaching that clarifies this precious time with God with the right words to say with humble heart. 

“Jesus He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Luke 11, NKJV

Today, because of what Jesus did for us, we come to God in Jesus Name.  Acknowledging God as holy opens the door, asking for His will brings us to His throne with attentive listening, asking for forgiveness in His Son’s Name begins His work of holiness in us, asking God to deliver from evil shows His power over all and in all.

Yes, friends, prayer is important to our relationship of knowing God and truly believing what He says is right, good and pleasing for life with Him. It is knowing that in the Name of the One and Only who saved us from own selfishness, God has our best interests in His heart.

One last thought…Since there was no way to let in natural light from the outside, the gold lampstand was the only source of light available in the Holy Place. Without it, the priests could not have carried on their various ministries.  Today, Jesus is the Light of the world, “in Him there is no darkness.”  Without Jesus, we cannot be and do what God wants us to be and do.

Lord,

Thank you for being our Light, guiding our path, showing us the Way to you and all you have for us.  I love you, Lord, with all my heart, mind and soul.  To you be the glory for all that is good in my life and in the lives of those around me.  To you be the glory for sustaining us, providing for us and protecting us from evil’s desires to lure us away from you. Thank you for your love and forgiveness.  Help me to love and forgive others like you love me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!