Thursday, July 11 ~ Day 5

“ONE Calling”

 

Exodus 31:1-5, 12-13

 

I have filled him with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge of every kind of craft.

–Exodus 31:3

Often when Christians think about someone being called, they assume it must be a clergy person, called to a specific kind of ministry in the church.  Pastors and preachers are called, maybe monks are called, even theologians!  But normal people just go to work, try to do the right thing, love their families, go to church, and support the “called people” when we can.  But the story of Bezalel reveals the truth about our lives as workers and called people:  We are called to worship God with our work, with our minds, our bodies, our hands.

When the Israelites had work to do building the Tabernacle where God would dwell among them, God said to Moses: “See I have called by name Bezalel… I have filled him with divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge of every kind of craft.”  Bezalel was a workman and a designer.  He worked with his mind, his hands, with stone, brick, wood, and metal.  He was called, not to preach or prophecy, but to do his job in service to God.  In our society, so often, people who work with their hands are looked down on, but Bezalel was able to do his work because he was filled with divine spirit.  And so it is with all of us.  Our work, as students, teachers, mothers, fathers, woodworkers, lawyers, business people, doctors, nurses, farmers, mechanics, administrators, delivery people, assistants, leaders, can happen because God’s creative spirit, the one that moved over the waters at the beginning of creation is within us.  Each of us is called to use our skills to the glory of God to bring beauty and goodness into the world.

Why? Because when God created the world, God called it good.  This is why, just after talking about the work of building the tabernacle, God talks about Sabbath and how important it is.  We are called to find ways to offer our work to God’s kingdom, and we are also called to rest, to delight in the work we have done, that God has done through us, that God has done without our help at all.  Work and service, wonder and delight—this is our calling from God.  This is how we offer our whole lives to God.

Dave Swanson