Exodus 31:2-3 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³ and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills.”

Sometimes God’s calling is evident simply by the abilities God has given them. Bezalel seems like a really cool guy to me, and I look forward to meeting him in heaven! It’s quite possible that after God had given Moses such detailed instructions about all the things involved with the tabernacle, he had been wracking his brain about how on earth he could make all of that. God is now saying, “I’ve got this. Here’s your craftsman.” The point is that all his varied abilities came from God – which is actually true of everyone. We almost certainly aren’t as exceptionally gifted as Bezalel, but everyone is gifted in some ways, (1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 12:7) and we are accountable to God for how we use those gifts. This in itself can be a clear indicator of how God has called us. I, for example, am certainly not called by God to be an Olympic athlete! Everyone has things they can do that seem simple enough to them, but other people struggle to do them. That is certainly an indication of gifting, and by extension, calling. We need to do individual personal inventory of our abilities and opportunities, and then ask God what He wants us to do with them. One point in this passage is that God said all of Bezalel’s abilities came because of being filled with His Spirit, when we don’t usually think of the things listed here as “spiritual gifts” at all. We do ourselves, and the Church, harm by putting things into rigid boxes, when God hasn’t planned things that way at all.

The Lord has been very gracious to me in the area of abilities, so the question is always, what have I done with them? I have not been a perfect steward by any means, and that is something I will have to answer for before the Lord. That’s scary, but I throw myself on His grace. I seek to help the believers understand that they too are gifted, and are called to use those gifts to serve God. Right now we’re going through Discover Your God-given Gifts, by Don and Katie Fortune, and the response has been all over the place. Some people are soaking it up, and some are running away as hard as they can. They don’t want to be shown how they are gifted, and so be accountable for their use of those gifts! What they don’t realize is that they are accountable anyway, whether or not they acknowledge the gifts. In fact, refusing to look at them is refusing to use them as God intends. That is painful to me as a pastor, but I have to speak the truth in love and release them into God’s hands.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that we’ll be going to the Japan Pentecostal Fellowship meeting today, for the next three days. I ask for travel mercies, particularly for my wife, and I pray that we would both receive and transmit all that You intend in this time, so that the Body of Christ may be built up according to Your plan, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!