Numbers 7:38-43: in context

When the tabernacle was dedicated, the leaders of the twelve tribes each brought an offering. Remarkably, each brought exactly the same gift: a silver platter and bowl full of flour and oil, a golden ladle of incense, and the same animals for the offerings. And yet Scripture does not simply say they all brought the same thing; it records each leader's offering separately, day by day, in full, naming each one and his identical gift. The offering of each tribal leader is written out individually, though it was the same as all the others.

There is something quietly striking in the way these offerings are recorded. Every leader brought the same gift; Scripture could have said so in a sentence and moved on. Instead, it records each one's offering separately and in full, day after day, naming each leader and his identical gift. Even though every offering was the same, each is noticed, recorded, and valued individually. God did not lump them together or overlook any; each person's gift and devotion was seen and remembered individually, though it looked just like every other. This reflects how God regards each person's offering and devotion: individually, not as an anonymous mass. We might think that when our offering to God, our service, our devotion, our gift, looks the same as everyone else's, it is lost in the crowd, unnoticed, indistinguishable, of no particular account. But the way these offerings are recorded says otherwise: God notices and values each person's offering individually, even when it is the same as others'. Your gift, your service, your devotion, is seen by God, recorded, remembered, not lost in the crowd or overlooked because it resembles another's. When Jesus watched people give at the treasury, he saw each one, and noticed the widow's small gift particularly; God attends to each person's offering individually. This is a comfort for those whose offering seems ordinary and indistinguishable. We may feel our devotion, our service, our giving, is nothing special, the same as countless others', unnoticed. But God sees and values each individually, as he recorded each leader's identical offering separately and in full. God is not unjust, Hebrews says, so as to forget your work and the love you have shown; he notices and remembers each one's offering, however ordinary it seems. This calls us to bring our offerings to God knowing they are noticed and valued individually, even when they seem ordinary. Each tribal leader's identical gift was recorded separately, seen and valued individually by God; and our own offerings, service, and devotion, however ordinary or indistinguishable they seem, are noticed and valued by God individually, not lost in the crowd or overlooked. Let us bring our offerings to God, whatever they are, knowing that he sees and values each one, that our devotion is not lost in the mass but noticed and remembered by the God who recorded each leader's gift by name, and who sees and values our offering, ordinary as it may seem, individually and personally.

Do I feel that my offering to God, my service, devotion, or giving, is lost in the crowd, unnoticed and of no particular account because it looks the same as everyone else's, and can the tribal leaders' identical offerings, each recorded separately and in full and valued individually by God, assure me that God notices and values each person's offering individually, so that my devotion, however ordinary or indistinguishable it seems, is seen and remembered by the God who records each one's gift by name?