Silver and Sea Cows

As I mentioned a little bit ago, I've been reading through the book of Exodus, reviewing the ins and outs of the establishment of the Jewish religion. God goes into great detail, telling Moses exactly how the Tabernacle is to be built and how the priestly garments are to be made, and I must confess that I found the descriptions to be a bit tiresome. Somewhere in the middle of reading about breastplates of gold and sapphires and curtains made of the hides of sea cows, the thought occurred to me. "Where in the world did they get these?!? They're in the middle of the desert! Where does one find a sea cow in the desert?"

And I thought back to the earlier chapters in Exodus. God first mentions it in ch. 3. "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians" (Ex. 3:21-22). When I initially read it, I thought, "Way to go, God! Make those Egyptians pay them back for all those years of slavery. Give those Israelites all the silver and gold that they want!" It wasn't until I was reading about the tabernacle that I saw the bigger picture in it all.

God miraculously freed the Israelites and He certainly wanted to bless them in every way possible. Giving them extravagant gifts was a part of that blessing. But God didn't want the Israelites to just hoard all their silver and gold for some unknown time or circumstance in the future when they might need it. He wanted them to use it, to give it back to Him to be a part of a much bigger plan that would allow them to commune with His presence in a way that they had never known. And He not only gave them the material goods to do this, but the actual talents to carry it out, too, through Bez and Oli (as we call them to the kids in our ministry).

It was an incredible picture to me of the true perspective of God's blessings, whether they be material, emotional, or physical talents. Too often I'll receive them and think, "God's giving this to me because I deserve it after all the struggle I went through." In all reality, He's giving it to me to provide me with the opportunity to be a part of a much bigger plan and purpose that He's always orchestrating. Andy Stanley refers to our tendency toward greed in his book that I've referenced several times, It Came From Within. He states, "When we don't have enough, we wonder why. Why not wonder when we have more than enough?" What a challenge to continually remind myself that I am not my own, therefore I must ask my owner what He would like done with whatever plunder He has blessed me with, and choose to gratefully turn over my "sea cows" to His purposes.