The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.” Exodus 25:1-2
“It is important to remember that God takes the lead to invite generous offerings. It is not Moses or the leaders of Israel that come up with the idea to ask for free will offerings…It is a story that provides richness in biblical principles that can be learned for ministries and churches seeking generous offerings from the Church.
The invitation from God to Moses happens also in a moment of isolation and spiritual discernment for Moses. Moses had been with God forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18). This was a time for Moses to isolate himself from leadership responsibilities and spend time in communion with God.
The nation of Israel is three months old (Exodus 19:1), it is a time of beginnings and time to establish a foundation. Moses as God’s appointed leader needed this time away. God speaks, Moses listens. God will instruct Moses so that he in turn can instruct the nation…
In the story of building the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:1-2) we see that it is God Himself the Initiator of asking for voluntary offerings. In any invitation to generosity how important it is to remember that God Himself should lead the process and that God shares His desires to someone that is submitted to God, as Moses was.
Moses had been with God forty days on Mount Sinai. We can then note two important aspects: God initiates the invitation to generosity and shares his desires to Moses. Moses having spent time with God has understood God’s will and desires and communicates this to the nation (Exodus 35:4)…
In all, about 14 different types of gifts are mentioned, not just gold and silver. The rest of the chapter describes how the people went away to their tents and eagerly and promptly identified the gifts and brought them in abundance. So much that they had to be stopped from giving (Exodus 36:6).”
Nydia Garcia Schmidt in “God – He Invites Generous Giving” on Ministry Fundraising Network blog dated 20 May 2021. My good friend Nydia brings up many good points in this piece. Let’s reflect on two of them more deeply.
Firstly, if you are in leadership roles, you must not take the lead but spend time with God to discern direction. This is very important so that you are taking people where God wants you all to go. Moses went to a place of “isolation and spiritual discernment” to cut out the noise and hear God’s voice.
Secondly, if you are part of God’s people, remember that the call to give comes from God and not God’s servant. And he directs the people to give what they have. The people had 14 kinds of gifts and not just one kind. When everyone gives what they have, there will be more than enough.
Will you respond to God’s call to give generously?