Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

““Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded.” Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it. They received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They kept bringing free will offerings to him every morning. All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which he did. They spoke to Moses, saying, “The people have brought much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make.” Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient to do all the work, and too much.”
(Exodus 36:1-7)

“But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.“
(2 Corinthians 4:13-15)

God saved them from being slaves. He brought them out of Egypt. He did not bring them out sick and poor, barely hanging on. They came out in total and perfect health from the youngest to the oldest and laden with riches (Psalm 105:37). They gave back SOME of those riches to build the tabernacle. God put the knowledge into men how to do it. Used their talents to produce exactly what God wanted to be their symbol. And this symbol of God’s GRACE, MERCY, and ABUNDANCE travelled before them, ever present as a beacon to God’s Glory and Goodness. God demonstrated to them He was the God of MORE THAN ENOUGH and gave them lifestyles of TOO MUCH following His symbol of what made it all happen: HIM. If they had taken it to heart, it would have been more than enough to bring them into the Land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was the down payment of their inheritance in God.

We have the same lesson in Jesus. We are given God’s trust so that WE can trust (Mark 11:22). Through that trust we have words about it and about what we believe given to us so that we can speak them. We are empowered with the knowledge God implants in us. So we can use our talents to produce exactly what God wants in our lives: a beacon to shine in the darkness of the world to draw attention to His Kingdom. His Grace. His Mercy. A symbol and evidence that He is real and is calling and ANYONE and EVERYONE can answer. We have JOY in our hope in Jesus, the down payment of the future restoration of all things and a return to the state and condition of life completely and absolutely lived in God’s will to God’s glory as we worship Him.

Summary

The point of life is to enjoy the glory of God, give thanks to God for what He has done, and work to do the will of God to steward creation. The glory leads to the worship. He gives from His mercy by grace – we don’t deserve it. Think of this: He created all of creation for our benefit BEFORE He created us and we could earn or be worthy of it. God has NEVER given us what we deserve. His GRACE leads us and enables us to give Him glory and praise and honour. And that is how it should be. He is a GOOD God!