Prepared for Service: Exodus 35:30-35

“Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, ‘See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (Exod. 35:30, NASB).

Great sports teams have players that are gifted, skilled, and disciplined. Why should the church of God demand less? I believe that too often there are too many churches that exist in mediocrity. Churches do not demand that the people best prepared for the work are placed in position to get the job done. This is not the way of God. I believe that our scripture passage shows us that God calls for people that are prepared for service to do the work. God desires the best. God will not settle for anything less than the best. God uses people that are prepared for service.

There is a reason that I am writing this article. You see, after struggling for seven years to get an education so that I could effectively live out my calling, I often had people say to me things like, “Your education don’t mean nothing; God can use/call anyone he wants.” Yes, God can call and use anyone that He wants; and the question is, will the people accept the one that the Lord calls. Our scripture passage gives us a picture of the success that can be had when people accept the one that God prepares for service.

Before we begin our discussion let me mention that even though the Lord calls the right person, it is not necessarily true that the person will have the success that he or she might have had. Moses is one of the best examples. Moses is born at a time that the Pharaoh issues a command that all the male Hebrew two years old and less be killed. Pharaoh is afraid because there is the possibility that a Deliverer is born among the Hebrew people that will lead the people out of bondage. Pharaoh is determined that he will not lose his slave labor. Moses is rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh, and she raises him as her son. Moses leaves the palace. He is forced to leave Egypt. After forty years in Midian God calls Moses and sends him back to Egypt to deliver his people. After escaping Egypt, the people reject Moses’ leadership. Instead of taking possession of the Promised Land the people rebel and they wander in the wilderness for forty years. Does God call the right person when He calls Moses? Is Moses prepared to lead the people to the Promised Land? The people mummer against Moses and Moses himself never reaches the Promised Land. So, let us return to our text to see that the Lord calls whoever He wants. The one that God wants is the one that is prepared for service; to do the work that needs to be done.

Exodus 35-40 is the story of the building of the tabernacle. God commands that certain materials be brought to build the tent of meetings. The Lord is very specific about which materials and supplies that are needed. The people obey the Lord and the Lord is now calling a specific person who has specific skills to lead those that do the work. So, let us look at God’s methodology of choosing whoever He wants to. Thus, we now focus on Exodus 35:30-35.

The writer tells us that the supplies are in place because the people obey the Lord’s commands. “The Israelites, all the men and women, whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work, which the LORD had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill offering to the LORD” (Exod. 35:34, NASB). After the materials needed are gathered Moses tells the people that God is calling a specific person with specific preparations to get the work done. “Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, ‘See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (35:30, NASB). Does God wait for a need to be met before He calls someone to do the work? The people are just now collecting the materials, but the Lord is calling someone that is already prepared to do the work. Let us look at the preparation.

First, he is filled with the Spirit of God. Thus, he has the wisdom of God “in understanding and knowledge and in all craftsmanship” (v. 31). The apostle Paul tells us that there is a difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world (1 Cor.1-2). Whereas Paul is addressing the issue of what different people believe about God, we can see in our text that God’s wisdom, understand and knowledge is needed to do any work that the Lord commands to be done. Let me see if I can give us an example.

When I am about sixteen years old, my dad is given the job of building a line fence. A line fence is a fence that separates two properties from each other. Dad and I begin the work, but a problem come up that we had not anticipated. Dad and I talk about possible solutions to solve the problems. Eventually, dad makes a decision. I readily agree with dad because I recognize him as the one with the authority to make the decision. Also, I know that Dad’s decision is based on his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. We simply call it experience. You see Bezalel has experience in doing this kind of work. He is not someone that the people choose because of his personality traits. He is not someone that the people like. His relationship to the people is not important. Rather, it is that he has the wisdom, understanding and knowledge of God. Simply put, Bezalel sees things from God’s point of view.

Next, we see that the Lord names an assistant to Bezalel. This assistant has the same heart that Bezalel has. “He also put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan” (v. 34). God does not call them because of family relationship. One is from the tribe of Judah and the other from the tribe of Dan. Nothing is said here about their personality traits. Although personality traits may help people to get along, it is not necessary that two people that get along and like each other have the necessary skills to get the work done. We see in verse thirty-four that the ability to teach others to do the work is what the two men have in common. Teaching is in their hearts.

Thirdly, they have the skills to do the work. They do not come to the job to learn on the job. They fully possess the skills needed to do every facet of the work. It is their skills to do the work that give them the final ability to teach others. We cannot teach what we do not know. Again, as stated above, I knew that my dad’s decision was best because of his collective skills and experience. We follow dad’s decision and all parties involved are completely satisfied with the job done.

So, what am I trying to say? Churches need to examine and evaluate their ways of selecting people to occupy important positions in the church. One’s personality should not be the deciding factor. One’s relationship to others ought not to be the deciding factor. Churches should not dismiss qualified people on the bases that God can chose whoever he wants to. Rather, the church should ask, why has the Lord sent this person to us? What is the Lord trying to get us to do? Where is the Lord trying to lead us to? When God prepares someone and sends them to us we can accept or reject them. If we accept them we can move toward the land promised to us. If we reject them we will find ourselves wandering in the wilderness. We will die in the wilderness. Let us remember that God calls a person and prepares them for service.