Exodus 37:1-38:8

Reading these passages, I was blown away by the amount of work and the quality of work that went into building the articles for the Tabernacle.  Just take the lampstand, for instance.  It was made from hammered work, all one piece.  From this single piece of gold, by hammering and molding, not attaching and soddering, they created an entire lampstand with six branches and the cups like almond blossoms, including the calyx and the flower.  It took me a moment to really understand what that meant.  So, from a single piece of gold, these guys hammered out a "trunk" or stand, and then were able to pull out/section out six branches from that single piece of gold, and upon those branches, by hammering (not molding with the hands and then adding on like an appendage), created a delicate cup to represent a flower and all it's little parts.  (A calyx is the cup-like part of the flower.)  It amazes me!  I couldn't imagine what it would even begin to take to plan this out so that from one piece, you can form such an intricate object.  You would have to know where to begin pounding, how to hit it just right so that the gold would shape in the direction you would want it to go, how to make sure there was enough gold to extend to all the parts that you are intending...  How do you do that?

The entire passage and the amount of work made me think of a few things.  First, these men showed a great deal of devotion, attention to detail, and pride in their work for the Lord.  It doesn't sound like they worked in a slapdashed manner (which, by the way, no, I would not normally use "slapdash", but it works.  What I wanted to use would have fully explained their lack of care and attention, as well as a small amount of derision for that attitude, but it wasn't appropriate and I wouldn't use it).  They took time, they took care, they made sure that their work was quality.  That then led me to think about our own work for the Lord.  Not many of us are creating articles or pieces for worship.  But we do have work that the Lord has set before us.  Are we giving our work this kind of attention?  Are we giving it every ounce of ability and talent and love that we have?  Do we have this kind of attitude when we work with children, especially rowdy, disrespectful, difficult-to-handle ones?  Do we show them the same love?  Do we treat with gentleness and respect those teens we come into contact with, safeguarding their molding into adult Christians?  Do we devote ourselves to other believers?  God has equipped us for all kinds of works, and with all kinds of skill sets to accomplish them.  But one thing that we all can give to the Lord is this kind of devotion.  Are we doing it?

Tomorrow's Reading: Exodus 38:9-31