Doing Things God’s Way

“Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.” (Exodus 36:1)

If we would worship and serve the Lord our God, the true and living God, we must worship and serve him in the way he prescribes. — Ask Uzza! We either do things God’s way, or all that we call worship and service to the Lord is but will worship and a vain show of religion.

In Exodus 36-39 God the Holy Spirit tells us how the Tabernacle was actually constructed by the children of Israel under the direction of Bezaleel and Aholiab. In the earlier chapters of Exodus we are told how the Lord God revealed the pattern to Moses in the mount and how Moses conveyed God’s revelation to his people.

Generosity

What a picture of devotion and generosity we have before us in Exodus 36! The men and women and their rulers, all the children of Israel are here held before us as examples of consecration to God in performing the work of the sanctuary. No effort was needed to move the hearts of the people to give. No appeals were made. No impressive arguments were given. Nothing was promised. Nothing was threatened. Oh, no! their hearts stirred them up. The streams of voluntary devotion flowed from within. “Rulers,” “men,” “women” — all felt it their sweet privilege to give to the Lord, not with a narrow heart or niggardly hand, but in such a magnanimous way that Bezaleel and Aholiab told Moses that they had enough and too much.

Implicit Obedience

Not only did the children of Israel give generously, with open hearts and open hands, their obedience was implicit. They did everything exactly as the Lord commanded Moses (Exodus 39:42-43). The Lord God had given the minute, detailed instructions concerning the entire work of the Tabernacle. Every pin, every socket, every loop, every buckle was to be made exactly as God specified. There was no room for man’s vote, man’s reason, or man’s common sense. Jehovah did not give a general outline and leave it for the children of Israel, or even Bezaleel, to fill in the details. He left no place for any man to offer an opinion, let alone prescribe a regulation. None! — “See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount” (Exo. 25:40; 26:30; Heb. 8:5).

This left no room for human device. If man had been allowed to make a single pin, that pin would have been made wrong, would have been out of place in the Tabernacle of God, and God’s pattern would have been violated. God’s salvation by Christ would have been falsely represented! We see what man’s “graving tool” produces in Exodus 32. There is no place for it in the worship and service of God!

Don Fortner

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