Exodus 31:1-4a, 6, 12-13
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…. 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...12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are
to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my
Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations,
that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.
The Lord provides what He commands. He
requires craftsmanship for glory and for beauty and He provides His Spirit to
inspire and execute everything according to the plans He provided. God cares
about beauty. It communicates something beyond itself. Beauty inspires awe and
in its proper context it draws the admirer closer to the Author of all that
beauty communicates. God is what beauty feels like. He is more than that, of
course, but He is not less. He is beyond awe, but breath-taking beauty gets you
pointed in the direction of transcendence.
So all that to say, there is great value in
pouring yourself into the work of making things beautiful for the sake of
pointing people beyond the common. But there is more to life than just work,
work, work. Even good things, like good work, must not be made the point of
life. The glory of God is the end game of all existence. And God is glorified
by our hard work. But He is also given glory by our Sabbath rest. Those who
throw themselves entirely into their work, as much as they may achieve in doing so, fail to achieve any glory for God in resting as He has commanded.
Work hard, rest well.
Prioritize rest and rigor; labor to
create and to leave your labors to His hands.
