Heralds Digest

  “Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, a weaver of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭38:22-23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ One of the amazing beauties of collaboration was demonstrated by Bezalel and his associates towards the construction of the tabernacle, instrument of services, and the design of the order of services. In spite of the diverse spread of discipline and specialties of the workmen, the coordination of all activities by Bezalel was simple; because his submission to instructions from Moses was equally simple. Otherwise, Bezalel could have challenged the supervisory right on the basis of the lack of Moses’ experience and expertise; or he might have promoted his right to independent judgment on the basis of his endowment with divine wisdom. It implies that complex service deliveries may involve th...

  “So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭36:6-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The surplus supplies for the work of the tabernacle in the wilderness was definitely a perfect illustration of sufficient provision for all of human needs, which are according to God’s perfect will. When the scriptures say that the Lord will provide for all our needs according to His riches, and not according to our resources, it is evident that our needs must be adopted as God’s needs or vice versa. Unfortunately, most of the time in life, human’s personal needs are irrational, selfish, and inconsiderate. And when these needs are not supplied,  the true motives behind the needs are readily manifested through anger, in-fighting, and the destabili...

  “And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze…” Exodus‬ ‭35:4-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Generally, there is nothing special about sacrifices. It is the normal call of responsibility to everyone who care to step out for the needs of others. The most important thing is that, even though we are motivated differently, people are generally motivated based on self interests; while making sacrifices in all our life’s relationships and commitments. In the Old Testament, and with all the lists of items from the Israelites’ material possessions, the rush for people to outrun one another on the basis of class and status is evident. And just as Moses emphasized the focus of God only on those who are of a willing heart, we know that God is always focussed on the gift in the believe...

  ““See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭31:2-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ A focus on the service requirements towards the construction of the tabernacle, holy garments,  ark of the Testimony, temple furniture and utensils, and the compounding of the incense and anointing oil for the holy place is both scary and complicated. But at the end, God told Moses “ See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the [Service] Spirit of God” . The referenced Spirit here is far from the intelligence of men. Whenever the service spirit in life’s projects and engagements is limited to the accumulation of Human Resources, we are always right to be concerned with all deliverables from our service offerings. Whereas, God is not really concerned about human ...

  “And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭28:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The uniqueness in the grace version of the holy garments for Aaron and his sons cannot be mistaken: “ And you shall make holy garments…for glory and for beauty ”. This grace comes with the embodiment of God’s glory and the empowerment of human beauty. Prior to the construction of these holy garments, the humanly-endowed grace garment in ministers can only boast of the accumulation of skills, worldly wisdom, material wealth, and earthly achievements. Unfortunately, these achievements may only minister to the flesh and provide different kinds of emotional excitement. Whereas, the divinely-inspired grace garments are engraved with the passion for the souls of the people, like Aaron’s garments had the names of the sons of ...

  “You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.” Exodus‬ ‭27:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Imaging Moses as the hired Contractor for the construction of the Tabernacle project in the wilderness, God was clearly both the Client and Project Consultant with the combination of resources and expertise to provide the Structural, Mechanical, Material, and Architectural specifications. And with the divine instruction “ You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it ”, it is clear that God expected a perfect alignment of the field structure with the project pattern shown to Moses on Mount Sinai. Every human life and his engagement (life’s ambition, relationships, services, etc) are created and designed by God with the same expectations…that is, “ make sure you follow the revealed pattern” . Unfortunately, while many people would claim ignorance of the revealed pattern (because life engagements are treated as...

  “Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭23:30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ If patience is a virtue in life, impatience must be nothing but a venom. Impatience is almost synonymous to impotence. Particularly, with respect to the promises of God, impatience often makes every man question the strategy adopted by God towards the fulfillment of His promises in life. Even the procession of the Israelites to the Promised Land was strategic and slow but steady, needless to mention God’s strategy of a progressive possession. Unfortunately, whenever God promises man that ‘I will drive them out from before you ’, there is often the human mindset of ‘I can get that done faster, in my own way’. And the venom swallowed through the pills of impatience often destroy the joy of the Lord; and the appetite to continue the race in the face of the unexpected challenges of life is extinguished. Whereas, the ‘little by little’ strategy fro...