Context No. 3842 of 4322 · Exodus

Exodus 36:31-38: in context

31He made bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward. 33He made the middle bar to pass through in the middle of the boards from the one end to the other. 34He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. 35He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman. 36He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them. 37He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer; 38and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of bronze.

This passage describes the skilled craftsmen at work on the tabernacle, making the bars that held the frame, the beautiful veil of blue and purple and scarlet with cherubim woven in by a skillful hand, and the pillars overlaid with gold. Every detail was made with care and craftsmanship, and offered to God.

There is dignity here for ordinary skilled work. The weavers, metalworkers, and carpenters who made these things were doing holy work; their craftsmanship was a form of worship, their skill a gift given back to God in the making of his dwelling. God does not despise the work of skilled hands; he fills people with ability and delights when they use it for his glory. This lifts up all honest, skilled labor. Whatever craft or skill we have been given, weaving, building, making, calculating, tending, can be offered to God and done as an act of worship, with the same care these craftsmen gave to the veil and the golden bars. Our ordinary work, done well and offered to God, is not far from the making of the tabernacle.

Do I offer my own skills and daily work to God as an act of worship, doing it with care and excellence as the tabernacle craftsmen did, whatever my particular craft may be?

Sources

Exodus 36:35: "He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman."
Exodus 36:34: "He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as places for the bars."
Colossians 3:23: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men."