“The Lord also spoke to Moses: ‘Look, I have appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every craft. I have also selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be with him. I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilled artisan in order to make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat that is on top of it, and all the other furnishings of the tent – the table with its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offerings with all its utensils, the basin with its stand – the specially woven garments, both the holy garments for the priest Asson and the garments for his sons to serve as priests, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They must make them according to all that I have commanded you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever known someone who was an idea person? Whenever something needed to be done, she had an idea for how to do it. Even if nothing needed to be done, she still had ideas. Let’s do this. Let’s try that. These kinds of folks can be inspiring. They can often easily wrap the people around them up in a really compelling vision of a future filled with all kinds of ideas. Having an idea and actually bringing that idea into reality, though, are two very different things. As we start in on the final chapter of the description of the tabernacle (before pretty much the whole thing will get repeated as the ISraelites actually build all of it…we won’t treat the sequel with quite as much depth or detail as we have given this part), we are going to start with a look at the folks who were actually going to make all of the ideas for the tabernacle happen. Check this out with me.

God had given a lot of instructions to Moses at this point about the structure and design of the tabernacle. A lot of instructions. The list He reviews with Moses here is pretty complete. That’s a lot of ideas. It’s a detailed set of ideas too – details enough for modern digital artists to create pretty intricate depictions of the whole complex. As great a leader as Moses was and would yet become, though, he was not going to be able to put all of these plans into action. He was not equipped with the set of skills necessary to take all of these ideas and bring them into reality. He was going to need help for that.

Fortunately, God had a plan for that.

This plan took the form of a couple of artisans He had specifically chosen and prepared for the task that needed to be completed. Bezalel and Oholiab were gifted by God to be able to do all of the work necessary to bring the thing into reality. Perhaps you’ve known people like this: folks who can do or make just about anything. We had a couple like this in our former church. They were wonderful (still are). If you needed something made, between the two of them, they could make it. He could make anything out of wood. She could craft or paint whatever you could imagine. They were a great team. Anytime we needed something created for the church (or the house), we called on them.

There isn’t too much else to dwell on here, but I do want to call your attention to a couple of things. First, we see emphasized here again that none of this was something Moses just made up for the sake of creating a religion. We have seen this constant repetition throughout this whole section of the phrase “the Lord spoke to Moses.” Moses has taken pains to make sure we understand that this all came from God. God did the speaking. Moses was just the scribe.

This mattered because God wanted the whole thing built very specifically. There were reasons for each and every part – reasons we have talked about at some length over the last several weeks. We see this emphasis at the end of the section when God says that “they must make them [the various parts of the tabernacle] according to all that I have commanded you.” Because of the nature of the purpose of the tabernacle complex, it needed to be created according to design. The final responsibility for making sure everything was right, though, was going to fall on Moses. He was the one who first received the commands. If anything didn’t come out right, it was likely because he hadn’t communicated it clearly. This doesn’t preclude some kind of spiritual or physical sabotage, but that wasn’t the first explanation that anyone was going to consider.

The second thing to see here is how God goes out of His way to draw attention to the fact that He is the one who has called and equipped Bezalel and Oholiab. Their skills didn’t come from out of nowhere. He gave them those. “I have filled him,” God said. God’s provision of artisans went beyond just these two, though. Did you catch that? “I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilled artisan.” Every person the people were going to need to be able to accomplish the task God had given them was going to be provided.

There are a couple of ideas this helps us see. For starters, God never calls us to something He does not also equip us to accomplish. He’s not the kind of call who gives us a task and leaves us entirely to our own devices. This is especially true when it comes to our doing the things He has explicitly commanded us to do. He never leaves us high and dry. Instead, He makes sure we have everything we need for the task we have been given to do. Now, this provision may come through our own hard work, but He is the one who equips us to work hard in the first place. Everything starts with Him.

The other idea this passage lets us see is that our gifts and talents are not random or meaningless. If we have the ability to do something, God gave us that ability. Well, all of us have the ability to do something. We can likely do something no one else can do at all or at least not quite in the way we do it. No one else brings the package of experiences and personality that make us us. None of this was accidental on God’s part. Everything He does is intentional.

This brings us to a point at which a bit of introspection would be worthwhile. What gifts and talents has God given you? What experiences make your particular grip on those gifts and talents unique to you? What are some of the needs in the community around you? More specifically, what are some of the needs in your church community and civic community that you have the ability to impact in a meaningful way? What roles in your church do you find yourself drawn to on a regular basis? How might the skills God has put within your grasp apply to those roles? How has God positioned you to be a part of advancing His plans for His kingdom in your community and beyond? If Bezalel and Oholiab hadn’t been faithful to apply their gifts as they were called, the people couldn’t have worshiped as God designed. What might your church or community be missing out on in their relationship with God if you aren’t faithful to apply yours? Consider carefully who He has made you to be, and step boldly into that role. Anything less just won’t do.