May 15, 2018: Day 31 – Exodus 31

No one should ever think that only those up on the pulpit area are called by God to do God’s work.  Did you notice in this chapter how the Lord spoke to Moses and drew out Bezalel and filled him with the Holy Spirit in order to increase his ability, intelligence and knowledge so that he would be the best there could be in making those things that have been mentioned earlier?  As Presbyterians we believe that everyone is called to the work that they have.  There is no higher calling.  There are callings, and all of these callings have been instituted by God for the sake of the kingdom of God.   This certainly is being played out here in this chapter.

There is a transition then from the gifts and the skills of the people of Israel to create that which God has commanded them to create in order to worship Him appropriately, to singling out the Sabbath Day as a commandments that not only has to be respected, but has to be followed to the letter of the law.  A few times we read that those who do not follow the Sabbath shall be put to death.  I’m not sure you heard that, but I know I was given a hard time early on when I first moved here and I mowed my lawn on a Sunday.  So much for a hard time, Exodus says the person who does not obey the Sabbath should be put to death.  

At the end of this chapter we see God handing over to Moses the tablets of stone upon which God Himself had written with his finger.  That’s pretty descriptive, and you can almost see the hand of God writing those commandments upon those stone tablets.