Bells & Whistles

Exodus 31 (ESV)
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, 8 the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, 9 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, 10 and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do."

Bezalel was filled with the Holy Spirit to be able to work artistically in many different craftmanships for the adorning of the temple. He was given an assistant and a crew who received their ability from God. God wanted His temple not only to be where He would dwell among His people, but that the temple would visually reflect His beauty. One of the ministries at our church will soon be studying how the priest's garments and the temple reflect Christ. And it comes down that Bezalel was chosen as overseer of these things and was equipped by God for the purpose.

Today's devotion may be specifically targeted at me today, but please try to see how it may apply to you - even if it is in a different area.

Does today's church adorn it's buildings and garments the same way? The Baptist church I worship with doesn't. But, does the church do anything visually to enhance worship or learning? Mine does. In fact that is one of my major areas of responsibility. With the many resources available today, adding quality video to music is easy and welcomed. Using a Christian produced video to help tell a story is a new sermon tool. Using PowerPoint to display scripture is great for note-takers and those with impaired vision.

My mistake: I have called this all "Bells and Whistles." I have taken all these things that I oversee and reduced it down to using any means to get through to a Video/Multimedia generation. I have said that though these things are nice, it all comes down to the preaching and teaching of God's word and everything else is just icing - not necessary.

After reading this section of scripture, I realize that this is important to God. Using other senses to worship God is good and encouraged (Ps 34:8 - O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.). God will use our frame of reference, as long as it doesn't contradict Him, to reveal Himself to us. He did it visually in Exodus, He did it culturally in the New Testament (Acts 17:22-31; I Cor. 9:19-23), so it makes sense that He will reveal Himself using our visual culture.

Though I'm shamed that I discounted something very important to my Father, I'm excited that He chose me to oversee this important aspect.

Has God called you to something you deem unnecessary? Take time to pray to Him to reveal how important it really is - then just praise Him for using you.