Offerings, vows and building a (gingerbread) house

Today: Numbers 28-30

A few weeks ago, I built a house--a gingerbread house, to be exact. Before the project started, I gathered a bunch of materials to decorate the house. I was looking forward to showing some skills in creating a cool, polished gingerbread house to rival my friends/competitors...but I had some major construction issues.

It took me awhile to figure out how the pieces of the house fit together. I wanted to rush through the (boring) construction phase and get to the fun part...decorating! But the roof of my house had other ideas... :)

Unlike many of my friends, I decided to be Ms. Independent and build and decorate the house by myself--not a good idea either. Going solo took longer and was definitely more difficult than partnering up with someone else. .

When I read today's passage and opened my laptop tonight, I wasn't sure what to write about--offerings? Or vows? Then I remembered my gingerbread house building project and the importance of understanding how things fit together.

It's not an accident that this passage talks about offerings and vows--both of them involve making and keeping promises. Offerings and vows both require giving and a level of sacrifice. And offerings and vows are both about partnership. Let me explain a bit...

In terms of offerings, God promised protection and blessing to His people for giving offerings. I think today sometimes we think about that promise of blessing in monetary terms--and to some extent, I think that's okay. In my own life, I've seen God bless me financially as I remain obedient and faithful in giving (I have a few pretty cool stories...but maybe I'll save them for later). However, God's promises of blessings extend WAY beyond finances. Sometimes we may not recognize or even know about the non-monetary blessings of God, but I know He brings them into our lives, partly because of our obedience (and partly because He's just full of grace and love). Giving offerings is something that we do as an act of obedience and worship...but it also signifies a partnership with God. When I give, I'm in essence saying to God, "I recognize that I'm NOT Ms. Independent who can do everything by herself. I need You. You provide everything--life, salvation, a job, a home, everything--to me. Thank you!"

Likewise, a vow is a promise by definition. God takes vows and promises seriously, as evidenced by this passage. Any kind of vow requires giving--whether it's a couple pledging to love each other forever at their wedding or a lender giving money to help someone buy a home. Vows can't be made in isolation--they require partnership with another person, organization or with God Himself.

I learned about understanding how things fit together and the importance of having a good team while reading this passage and building a gingerbread house. Next year, I'll be better equipped to understand how my gingerbread house should fit together and plan ahead to choose a partner. Hopefully, as I continue this project and life in general, I'll also get better at understanding how things fit together and instead of trying to tackle things on my own, I want to recognize the importance of trusting God and people along the way.

Tomorrow: Numbers 31-32