BIBLE LESSON

“Everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.”

— Exodus 35:21

The Lord wanted to assure the Hebrews of His continual presence with His people as He led them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land under Moses’ leadership. Because the Lord had miraculously delivered His people from slavery in Pharaoh’s Egypt through a series of plagues that proved the Lord was the God above all their gods, His people also wanted and needed the Lord to continue going with them to provide all their needs and defeat all their enemies. To meet all the needs of His people, the Lord told Moses that He wanted them to construct a tent of meeting or tabernacle where they would be assured of the Lord’s presence. They were never to create an idol as a visible representation of God as did the Egyptians and their neighbors, but wherever the Lord told Moses to lead them they would take the tabernacle with them and the invisible God would go, too. When the Hebrews learned of God’s plans to go with them and the need for them to provide a tent of meeting, with appreciation for all the Lord had done for them and with thankful and willing hearts the Hebrews gave a portion of what the Egyptians had given them when they left Egypt so those building the tent of meeting and making garments for the priests would have all the supplies they needed. Believers still want God to abide with them day-by-day, and with thankful hearts they give joyfully and willingly to accomplish God’s plans for His people.