Daily PresenceSample

Giving can be really challenging. Christmas and birthday presents can cause all kinds of grief for people. What should I give? How much should I spend? Will they like it? These are all really challenging questions for us. We have all had some gifts that seemed just perfect. On the other hand, my mom is famous for starting each gift giving season with, “well you may not like this...” Sometimes she is right, but at the end it doesn’t really bother me because it’s my mom.

Numbers 7 spends the entire chapter describing the gifts that each tribe brought for dedicating the tabernacle. In verses 84-88 we see the entirety of what was brought to the LORD. Doesn’t GOD already have everything HE needs? Why does GOD ask us for offerings, gifts, and tithes anyway? GOD doesn’t need our money or treasures. Yet they were asked to give. They were asked to trust. God knows that at the heart of all things is trust. HE wants us to rely upon HIM, not the money or gold. Trust can be hard. We don’t want to go without, so we see our giving as giving up something instead of giving to SOMEONE. I don’t see my tithe as what GOD can use; I see it as me not getting something I want. We may even fear that God can’t (or won’t) provide so we must hold on to every little bit. This isn’t just limited to money, either.

When we focus on those ideas, we are missing the idea of giving. Whatever gifts we buy or receive should be done from love and a desire to express that love. Here the people brought forth what was asked of them. Don’t forget these were normal people just like us. In fact, these were the people who built a golden calf. They were the people who grumbled about how much better things were in Egypt every time things got difficult. However, it’s probably those very things that drove their giving. And what happens? God gets glory. He is given the opportunity by the people to have importance. God didn’t need their treasure. HE needed to show people that HE was their treasure.

Once we realize it’s about love, obedience, and gratitude then neither our receiving nor giving is a burden. Both become privileges and opportunities to trust GOD.