Exodus 35: 30 – 31
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. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all craftsmanship.
The backdrop to this verse is the construction of the temple. God gave Moses detailed plans for the layout of the temple and the fabrication of every item related thereto. The time had come to build it. How do you succeed at a momentous task? What is the secret to getting a job done in excellent fashion. The answer is, “the anointing.”
This verse is in the Bible, not necessarily for its historical value, but more importantly, for its instructive value. We are all assigned jobs to do and sometimes, many times, they are larger than ourselves. Truly, most tasks worth doing are bigger than our abilities. That’s when it becomes fun and also when we learn how to do the impossible.
Today’s verse pries the lid off the mystery. God anointed Uri and filled him with His Spirit. It seems to me that two of the precursors to this anointing are humility and surrender. When confronted with a new task, how do we respond? Most of us were not trained to stop and consider Yahweh. Therefore, we usually begin in our brains attempting to figure out what steps and resources are required. Most of us begin with planning, then perhaps proceed to meeting with others. This is the way we were trained in the world. Today, Father is showing us a different way. Moses was in partnership with God. God told him, “Look, I’ve already called and appointed a project leader for you and I have gifted him with everything he needs.”
Moses was listening to God and, it seems to me, so was Bezalel. Father God downloaded to Bezalel all the wisdom and talent he needed in order to complete the project. That sounds pretty cool to me. The anointing is the power within us to do that which we could never do in our own strength and knowledge. It is supernatural wisdom and knowledge. It’s just the thing we need for that next big project.
The other remarkable bit about this passage is that it contains what many would consider New Testament language, so it is worth an extra moment to examine. This passage reveals that God “filled” Bezalel with “the Spirit of God.” This is a rare experience for the Old Testament. Jesus told us it was in our best interest that he go away so that he could send the Holy Spirit to us. In fact, the Spirit was not spoken about much in the Old Testament. Jesus introduced him and the Acts 2 phenomenon is the promised out pouring . What is important about all this is the revelation that with the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes the gifts and anointing. It is the Holy Spirit which empowers each of us. We can put aside theology and even history and resolve to something much more foundational and important. You don’t need to resolve any theological debates or questions. None of it matters. In fact, today’s passage seems to fly in the face of some of it anyway.
Here is what is important. We can see, apart from theology, that God thought it was important to fill Bezalel with His own Spirit. It seems the reason was to empower Bezalel to do the task at hand. Now, the bottom line for us would seem to be to inquire of God whether we, individually, are filled or not. I would encourage each of you to ask the Father if you have all of the Holy Spirit that you can have. I cannot imagine a response that says, “I have all the Holy Spirit I need or want.” That just doesn’t make any sense to me. That is why I believe we are afforded an opportunity today, to ask the Father for more. Ask Him what is next for us. What more do you want me to receive? Have I opened my heart to all you want to do in me? Have I surrendered all of me? Am I open and humble. I suppose most of us will find there is more we can surrender. We will likely believe we can be closer to Yahweh than we are currently. That’s great! Perhaps today, each of us can grow closer to the Lord and be filled with more of Him. Ask the Lord and receive the good news!