What Are Your Gifts?
by David Silvester
When we observe someone using a particular gift, such as playing a piano or other musical instrument during a concert, we might, at times, feel a little envious, and wish that we had such a gift. Yet every one of us has some degree of gifting, whether we’re aware if it or not. And if we’re aware that God has called us into some kind of service for Him, we can be assured that He’s equipped us for that service, even though we may be the last person on earth to recognise it.
When God gave Moses the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle in Exodus, He also told him who was gifted to make the specific articles for it. And Bezalel was the man to whom God had given a variety of gifts as a craftsman, to produce many of these articles.
In many ways an engineering craftsman may feel that his abilities are mundane and no more than the norm for an engineer. My personal experience was that I was told, “You will never make a turner” when I was set to work on a lathe as an apprentice. Having received such a challenge, I made it my business to talk to one of the senior turners in the department and ask his advice to help me develop the skills needed. For him, he said, it was a pleasure to help. The outcome was that those skills were developed in me to the degree that they were ultimately used to teach and train many other young apprentices. But I never dreamt that this was a God-given privilege.
If God hadn’t told Moses about Bezalel’s abilities, I wonder who might have been put into that position of responsibility, and given the task of making those things. God knew who He wanted to do that special work, and in the same way He knows where He wants you and me, and what He has in mind for us to do for Him. When He calls anyone of us for a task, it is our responsibility to discover and develop the skills He has called us to undertake, because He has already put those abilities there.
Prayer: Father God, I thank You, that You give the gifts and abilities needed for serving You. As You lead me in the way of serving You, please enable me to develop the skills required to serve You in a manner that will bring glory and honour to You, I pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Silvester is married and has a son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. He trained as a production engineer. He then moved on to become a lecturer of engineering craft skills before being called of God in his early fifties to become a pastor of a Baptist church. He says that,"having previously experienced an amazing healing on a day others expected me to die, it came as no surprise that God directed me and my wife, Margaret, to become involved with Ellel Ministries."
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