In Need of a Skilled Craftsman, Please?

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

Recently, we've been reading through the Book of Exodus and have come upon Chapters 25 and 26 where God instructs Israel in the construction of His Dwelling Place: the Tabernacle. The instructions for everything--framing, the lampstand, the altar, the curtains--are quite specific and complicated, and I found myself chuckling whenever God mentions that a skilled worker or craftsman should be involved with the process. These tasks were not for any ordinary Israelite.

Why do I find this interesting?

I'm not a handyman. I can only shake my head when I read the details involved in constructing the crossbars of acacia wood. Here's the extent of my handiness: I can change light bulbs. I can put in new batteries (generally). Occasionally, I've been known to wield a drill and use a stud finder (although not very accurately). It's one of my great regrets in life and I wish I had the time to go into the great 2008 walk-in-shower-renovation-debacle at the Stam House for your entertainment, but I don't. Suffice it to say, whenever we've bought a new bookshelf I struggle to follow even the simplest instructions when I am well aware that there are some in my family who could go outside in the woods, chop down a few trees, and make a beautiful bookshelf from scratch in the time it takes me to get all the pieces out of the box and get them organized.

I'm sure there were probably Israelites like me. They could gather manna, they could wander, they for sure could do some complaining, and maybe were decent swinging a sword fighting against all those "'-ites" they ran into, but when it came to crafting God's dwelling place with man, He wanted the very best. And the call went out for a skilled craftsman. The neat thing to me as I think about it, is that God was the giver of that particular skill. He was the source of the talent in their craft. He had prepared them in advance for the work that He knew they would do, and He knew they would do it well. And they did! The Tabernacle was beautiful!