Amidst the lawgiving of the second half of the book of Exodus, there is a little section that makes beautiful sense for us in our endeavor to seek God for His "assignment" for each of us at TFH and beyond.
God had given to Moses a whole series of plans for crafting the fixtures of the tabernacle. Now if Moses was no craftsman (and as far as we know, he was not), he must have been thinking to himself, Sounds grand! But who's going to do this? I have heard many ministry leaders and board members say that the Lord will always fund His work. I don't know if "always" is really true in the range of God's sovereignty, but we find a great example in Exodus 31 and Exodus 36 of God's supply for God's project.
In Exodus 31, we are introduced to two men whom God had very much created to be craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab. God assured Moses that He had skilled these two men for the tasks at hand. This was reconfirmed at the outset of Exodus 36: "'Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary...'" (ESV).
God had equipped these craftsmen. But there is more than that. Look at verse 2: "And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart he stirred up to come to do the work."
Wow! The skill was matched by the stirring of the Lord. There was a meeting of mind and heart. I cannot imagine men who have ever been more assured of their call, who have been more confident that they were doing what God intended for them to do.
I think we can also extrapolate from the context of these passages that B & O were leaders and craftsmen. Others were just craftsmen. And among these craftsmen there were various levels of skill. Some may have had more brains than brawn, and they prepped the drawings from which the men worked. Others were all brawn, and they lifted the heavy pieces into place. Some were adept with their fingers and did the sewing. In our modern construction parlance, there were framers and there were finishers; all were necessary to get the job done, and they all knew it.
I hope that you know by now that we need you at The Father's House. We look for you to make whatever contributions God has trained, skilled, inspired, and released you to do in this time. (Don't ignore that last little phrase, "in this time." As skilled and used as you may have been in one area in the past, God may be preparing you to "change lanes." All that past work has taught you to run, and now He may be moving you to the "inside track.")
If you are finding that thinking about this stuff and talking about it at home and in small groups is really weighty work. I am with you on that! Jesus warned that we "consider the cost" before following Him. So assess where you are in life and what God may have next for you. It may be something specific at TFH, or something in the broader kingdom, or a bit of both. But if you make the decisions prayerfully and carefully, you are taking the right approach.
Can't wait to hear from you!
God Keeps Leading
11 years ago
3 comments:
There seems to be two sections here. column 1 is what I want to do... and column 2 is what God wants me to do. Im seeing column 1 very clearly with all its ambitions, hopes, and desires (be them good or bad, selfless or selfish) Column 2 is fuzzy, having an idea, but not sure what it looks like. Maybe we should offer vision counseling in all this.
Anonymous, the key question is this: are the items in column 1 against the known will of God? I'm guessing not.
You see, if we are in Christ and submitted to Him, and if our God is sovereign and if He causes us to "will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13), those ambitions, hopes and desires in column 1 are likely from the Lord.
As someone who works in the creative realm through writing, I am often approached by people who say they don't know how I could write so much and so consistently. I tell them that I "don't know" either. I don't sit around and pound on my skull until my brain generates material. Simply, and I have absolutely no other explanation, God gives me the thoughts that then go to the paper. It is ALL Him! Well, if I credit God for those thoughts, and He does not actually speak them or reveal them (by vision, say) to me, then I must also—if I am in Christ and submitted to Him—believe that thoughts and ideas like you say are in column 1 are from Him.
I think when we hear about a passage like "without vision, the people perish" (a loosely applied use of Proverbs 29:18), our minds immediately go to "without a vision." But the truth is that many leaders, some in Scripture and some thereafter, have acted in visionary ways without (to our knowledge) ever having had "a vision" or "a prophecy."
If your column 1 includes ambitions and hopes, and those ambitions and hopes reach well beyond yourself to serve God and others, I would suggest that you have vision. And because our God is sovereign, that vision comes from Him.
What you just said in response to Anonymous is helpful to me. There have been times when I've wondered if what I was thinking was really from God. Now, when it comes to everyday stuff that doesn't really have to do with serving God (I guess that's to say if I ever do anything that's NOT serving God...Which I suppose is a whole nother topic), I may not know what the right answer is. But...In the case of helping around the church, this is a great way to think about what I was wanting to do. So, I now feel more confident in suggesting what I did. (If that makes any sense.)
Post a Comment