Being a Bezalel
Do you, Christian creative, acknowledge that God has not only called you to create, but chose you for the specific projects He has set before you?
The first Biblically recorded instance of a person being gifted the Holy Spirit is Bezalel. If you are unsure of who that is, you are not alone! He was no great prophet like Moses, or mighty man like Samson, and he wasn’t one of the Twelve Disciples or a member of Paul’s ministry. No, Bezalel was a craftsman.
God could have snapped His fingers and poof, the Tabernacle is completed perfectly to His specifications, perhaps even using materials that did not exist in the world until that moment! He created the entire universe — including all the atoms and molecules of the gold, scarlet, linen, acacia wood, and goatshair used in the Tabernacle — a project like this is nothing. It is less than nothing.
However, He did not. To create this place of worship, His dwelling place among the Israelites in the wilderness, He called upon people. Specifically, He called upon people who He had already prepared with the skills and abilities necessary to bring the Tabernacle to life…and then He gave them the Holy Spirit to guide them.
You, Christian creative, are a Bezalel. Perhaps not given the job of creating God’s dwelling place among the Israelites — He has no use for it since He now dwells within us — but you are are still a Holy Spirit-filled craftsman. You are an artist, a musician, a writer, a photographer, a songwriter, a builder, someone who works in thread and fabric, someone who bakes and cooks delicious food, or someone who tends beautiful gardens and decorates the interiors of homes. You are someone whom God has chosen, nurtured, and provided the tools for. Your task is to create works that glorify and express worship to God using the skills that He has given you in you, the talents He knitted into your DNA, and the Holy Spirit, which dwells inside you as a Child of God.
YOU, Christian creative, have a purpose.
Putting it into Action
Take some time and read through the Tabernacle and Priestly Garment chapters of Exodus [Chapters 26 through 31 to start]. Pick out each instance of God telling Moses that He has chosen craftsmen (and women!) to build the Tabernacle. Bezalel is the start, but other creative roles and occupations are also mentioned. Once you’ve done this, muse on two things: first that God values and uses craftsmen in His kingdom (not everyone is a prophet or warrior!), and second, that you fulfill a similar role. You are not building the Tabernacle, of course, but you are a creative, indwelt by the Holy Spirit to use your skills and talents for God and His kingdom.
“…and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.”
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…”
