Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Exodus 35-36
Key Verse
Exodus 36:2 — “And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:”
Devotional Thought
The people of Israel stood at the foot of Sinai with a tabernacle to build and nothing in their hands but what they already owned. Moses did not levy a tax or conscript labor. He said, “Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it.” And they came — men and women, rulers and ordinary folk — with bracelets and earrings, blue and purple and scarlet, goats’ hair and badgers’ skins, onyx stones and spices. The offering was not gathered by pressure but stirred by the Spirit, and it grew so abundant that Moses had to command the people to stop. What kind of God inspires such generosity? The same God who would one day give His own Son willingly for us.
Notice, too, that God did not merely ask for materials; He gave the skill to shape them. Bezaleel and Aholiab were called by name and filled “with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” Their craft — cutting stones, carving wood, embroidering linen, weaving cloth — was not secular work left outside the sanctuary. It was holy work, Spirit-filled work, offered back to the God who gave it. The curtains were coupled with fifty gold taches “so it became one tabernacle.” Every loop, every socket, every bar mattered because it served the dwelling place of God among His people.
In mid-June, when the year’s work is in full swing and our hands are busy with ordinary tasks, this passage quietly asks us where our willing hearts are pointed. The Israelites gave what they had — not what they wished they had. Some brought gold, some brought thread, some brought nothing but their hands and their wisdom. All of it was received. God is not waiting for your surplus; He is waiting for your willingness. The question is not whether you have enough to give, but whether your heart has been stirred.
And when the work was done, the text says simply, “So it became one tabernacle.” A dwelling place for the living God, assembled from a thousand small obediences and a thousand willing gifts. That is still how God builds His church — not by the brilliance of a few, but by the willing hearts of many, each bringing what the Spirit has placed in their hands.
Reflection
- What has God placed in your hands — time, skill, resources, attention — that He is asking you to bring willingly rather than reluctantly?
- The people gave until Moses had to restrain them. Does your giving and service flow from a heart stirred by God, or from duty, comparison, or guilt?
Prayer
Lord, You are the God who dwells among Your people, and You have always built Your dwelling place through willing hearts. Stir us as You stirred Israel in the wilderness. Take what we have — our work, our skills, our possessions, our days — and make it holy for Your service. Forgive us for the times we have held back, given grudgingly, or served for the eyes of others. Fill us with Your Spirit in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, as You filled Bezaleel and Aholiab, so that all we make and do may become part of the tabernacle where You meet with us. In the name of Jesus, our willing Savior. Amen.