Never Forsaken: Using Your Gifts

 

and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. Exodus 35:21

 I’ve written about it before, but fiber arts are kind of my thing. I actually spent last weekend with dozens of my fiber arts people. Shepherds and spinners and dyers and weavers. It was at an event called the Shepherd’s Extravaganza. I got to help out with the fleece sale where shepherds brought in this year’s fleece, the wool freshly cut from their sheep (don’t worry, it’s like a hair cut – doesn’t hurt at all). A judge came and looked them all over, noting different qualities and deficiencies in them. She chose the best to receive fancy ribbons, and one among them received the judge’s choice award. In another area, craftspeople had brought things they had made with wool (and other fiber) to be displayed and judged. My Mom won the judge’s choice in that area, she’s super talented!

 In today’s reading (Exodus 35-37), all of God’s careful directions are being followed to bring together the beautiful tabernacle He designed. He appointed two people to be in charge, Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. You’ll notice that Bezalel is the grandson of Hur, Moses’ friend that held up his arms several chapters ago. Coincidence? While these men were in charge of organizing, directing, and likely doing much of the work themselves, this was a job much too big for just two men! The passage talks about the curtains involved in the tabernacle creation. They were 48 feet long and 6 feet wide. I’ve watched as teams of people participated in an event called the sheep to shawl where they take a fleece, process it, spin it, ply it and weave it all together in one go. This is a huge undertaking which involves several people and it produces a shawl that is maybe 3 feet by 4 feet. These tent curtains are many times that size and would take the efforts of many, many people. The spinning alone would be intense! In Exodus 35:10, we read that everyone that God had skilled in these crafts were called to help and in Exodus 35:25 it tells us about all the spinning women. I imagine there were thousands of them, maybe tens of thousands. All kinds of fiber were used, wool and linen and goat’s hair. Each required a particular style of spinning, and because they were all being used together, some uniformity in their spinning would be necessary as well. You wouldn’t want a 4-ply yarn used with a 2-ply yarn, or picture a really wide, bulky yarn next to a fine, lace-like yarn. Someone, likely one of the two aforementioned men, had to coordinate all the spinners. That would have been a big task in itself!

 What’s that got to do with us today? Well, just like in Exodus, today each person is created with a gifting. For some of them, like my Mom, it’s fiber arts (and just about every other art she sets her mind to!). For some, like me, it’s writing or spreadsheet creation. Now, you’re not going to find those things in a listing of spiritual gifts in the New Testament, but I assure you that they are very much given by God and can be used for His glory and the benefit of His Kingdom and people. We need the secretaries and the janitors, the Sunday School teachers and the greeters at the door. We need the person who designs the pamphlets and the advertisements for events. We need the VBS directors and all the dozens or hundreds of volunteers. Church cannot be run by the pastor alone, ask any pastor and they’ll be happy to tell you!

Here’s the Thing: What’s your gift? What do you love to do? What just seems to come naturally to you? How can you use that to bless God’s Kingdom? Maybe that’s through your local church. Maybe, like my son who is in Liberia, West Africa as I write this, it’s through an organization that works in other parts of the world. Maybe, like my husband, you work through a group that minister in your local community, like a homeless mission. The opportunities abound! As Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38).