What's a willing, wise heart? (Exodus 35-40; Leviticus 1; 16; 19)

35:5, 10, 21, 25, 26, 29, 35

God loves a willing, wise heart and spirit. There is a lot of repetition in this and the next chapter. These verses are talking about the many people who were willing to contribute to the building of the tabernacle. Let’s read:

• 10: “And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded.”

• 21: “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.”

• 25: “And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.”

• 26: “And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.”

• 29: “The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.”

• 35: “Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.”

What is a wise heart? A wise heart is a person who:

• Can discern between right and wrong. They make good decisions.

• Sees things as they are. They aren’t overly biased by their own perspective. They also keep things in perspective.

• Is overcoming the natural man. They aren’t ruled by emotions. They are able to keep passions in check.

• Is sensitive to the needs of others. They are consistently aware of what others are facing. They are empathetic.

• Are committed after the emotion has passed. A wise heart doesn’t rely on bursts of motivation. Once they commit, the decisions is made.

What is a willing heart and spirit? A willing heart and spirit is someone who:

• Does not need to be compelled. They see the value in something and have the strength to move forward on their own.

• Acts in faith. They are willing to proceed even when the outcome is unknown. They are willing to try.

• Actively persists. When the road becomes hard, they continue moving forward.

• Is teachable and obedient. They are willing to sacrifice their will. They will do what the Lord asks whether they agree or not.

• Acts instead of ponders. They will take action rather than continually planning.

I want to have a wise and willing heart and spirit.

36:2

”And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.” As I’ve said, we should not take full credit when we possess wisdom. That wisdom was given us by the Lord in every way. I can imagine that the premortal experience was filled with the Lord giving us wisdom. This mortal experience was made possible by the Lord. The power which enlightens our minds comes from the Light of Christ and the Spirit. We can’t take credit for our height, nor can we claim credit for our wisdom. We were given it.

Sometimes, our hearts aren’t able to ‘stir us up.’ We have a somewhat willing heart but it just doesn’t have the power to make us act. We have to give oxygen to the fire of desire that is in our hearts to it has the power to help us overcome the natural man.

There are a thousand things that we can do to add oxygen to that fire of desire. I’ve found that learning more about Jesus Christ and trying to really know him has really helped me.

36:5-6

The people kept bringing offerings. “And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.” The people brought more than was needed. They had to be “restrained from bringing.”

Is that happening now? How many times have you heard an Elder’s quorum president complain that the Elders were doing too much ministering? How often are volunteers overflowing to the cannery? How difficult is it to get people to clean the meetinghouse?

We often criticize the ancient Israelites but we should give credit to them for their willingness to help. I think they could criticize us in this time.

39:43

“And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.” We want that same blessing over our efforts. Can the Lord look at your life’s work and say that you did it as commanded?

I’m sure that their work wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t flawless. There were probably loose joints or scuff marks and a thousand other imperfections. That’s part of being imperfect mortals.

However, they did their best. They knew what was expected and worked hard to deliver it as requested. We know what is expected of us and simply need to work to deliver our imperfect offering.

The key thing to remember here is that the Lord did not need a temple. It was built for us. It is the same with our life’s offering. If we follow the directions, we will build a character that has the capability to inherit all that the Father has.

Leviticus

1:11-13

”And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.” Okay…this sounds gross. The temple experience was a messy one for most people. There‘s a lot of cutting and blood and burning flesh. And this was considered worship?

You would expect that even the ancient temple would be a clean, organized, simple, reverent place. How much reverence can be had with cutting the throats of animals and letting them bleed out?

I think there’s a correlation that can be made. Our lives are never bright and shiny and perfectly in order. Many of us project perfection publicly but are ashamed of our messy lives. None of us make it through this life with every aspect clean and orderly. This life is meant to be a struggle. Our lives are often messy. That’s okay.

16:10, 21-22

“But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.”

”And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”

This is the scapegoat. With this goat, the high priest would lay the sins, iniquities and transgressions upon the head of the goat. It is obviously symbolic of Jesus Christ taking on the sins of the world to himself.

There was another goat that would be sacrificed. “And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering…And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself.” This is also symbolic of Jesus Christ. Our Lord allowed himself to be crucified as a sacrifice.

It seems clear that the temple ceremony was designed to allow the Israelites to worship but also to point towards Jesus Christ.

16:30

”For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.” It’s a good reminder that it is Christ’s atonement that cleanses us. We cannot create our own spiritual soap and scrub hard enough to be forgiven. It is only through Christ.

19:5

”And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will.” No one was supposed to be forced to give peace offerings.

It is a little more focused for us. They were doing something of their own free will. We are literally sacrificing our will. We are giving up our will for the Lord’s. Their sacrifice was an expression of them wanting to follow God’s will. It should be the same with us. If we are sacrificing our will, there should be outward expressions of that. When we give up our will for the Lord’s, it changes us and how we treat others. It affects the choices we make every day.

The expressions of our sacrifice are helping the needy, serving missions, being valiant in our callings, not judging, loving those who may offend us. Our dispensation of sacrifice is difficult and more nuanced and harder to see. Our sacrifice leads to more personal growth and more help for others to come unto Christ.

I’m glad I live in this dispensation.

19:14

”Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord.” None of us would place something in the way of a blind person. Instead, we would treat that person with kindness.

But what if someone’s weakness isn’t blindness but pride? What if their weakness is that they are lazy? Most weaknesses aren’t considered handicaps. It’s interesting that we would never put a stumbling block in front of a blind person but we’d stand in the way of someone we judged to be prideful.

We should view the weaknesses of others with compassion, not criticism.

19:15

“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.” We sometimes equate wealth with righteousness and poverty with unrighteousness. This is wrong. There is no financial clue about righteousness.

Our goal is to respect and honor those who are righteous. It’s simple.

19:18

”Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.” I should read this scripture daily. When I am wronged, I want fairness. I want there to be consequences for that person.

I have been wronged recently by a friend. I’m tempted every day to write a negative review of his business through every online channel. I’ve rationalized that it’s the right thing to do to prevent others from making the same mistake.

However, I think that it’s more about me wanting revenge. I’m holding a grudge. This scripture is written for me. I need to simply love. It’s hard. I resist the temptation every week.

19:31

”Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” Lately, we’ve had friends describe visits to psychics and the strength they’ve received from those visits. In each case, we’ve been honest.

I think that there are people who have talents - who are extra perceptive and can discern thoughts and situations. I think that they can be a support to others.

However, the moment we are looking for another source of truth outside of the gospel, we’re heading in the wrong direction. If we replace our local priesthood leaders with local wizards, it’s a mistake.

The gospel is simple. We can receive revelation from our Heavenly Father through the Spirit. Our priesthood leaders can and do receive revelation that can bless us. There is no other chain of communication for God. He doesn’t work through psychics. His house is a house of order and there can’t be multiple lines of revelation.

I think this is dangerous territory for anyone taking direction from a psychic. I think they’re one offensive comment away from becoming inactive.

God wants us focused on being righteous. He doesn’t want us frantically searching in different places for his word. That doesn’t help us progress. We need our energy focused on giving up our will for God’s. That’s hard enough.

I’m grateful for the simplicity of the gospel. It is a source of strength for me.