2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.
As the Lord instructs Moses on the future construction of a place of worship, one important element is highlighted in this verse. There are no materials for the construction of this worship center. Moses is going to take up an offering. He is going to ask for specific materials to be donated. The key point that is often missed is the prompting of the heart. They were to give as they were being prompted in their hearts. There is no demand on them to give. There was no formula about the size of their gift, or even the necessity of giving. They were to give in response to a prompting in their heart. I wonder what would happen if we gave when we were prompted in accordance with that prompting. Would we give more often? Would we give more? Would we even hear the prompting of the Lord? Or would the prompting be overwhelmed by the many other loud demands with which we are confronted? My guess is that we would miss the promptings at first. But once we caught that first one and obeyed, then the blessing that followed would encourage us to listen more carefully for future promptings. Nothing is better than following that prompting to give. It is much easier to just give some percentage of our income. That doesn’t require us to pull in closer to the Lord. That doesn’t require us to trust. But when we listen to a prompting, chances are it will stretch our concept of giving. The Lord will prompt us to give much more than we would ever expect. But the Lord is faithful. If it really is His prompting, then provision will be made for our needs. And that provision will be in keeping with His abundant character. I want to encourage you to listen to those promptings. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The Arnold Journey 