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Wise-Hearted Ones: Called By Name
229 Plays11 months ago
Wise-Hearted Ones: Called By Name. Called By Heart. with Lisa Smith
What does “wise-hearted” even mean? In this episode, podcast host Lisa Smith unravels a story of divine, artistic collaboration. An unlikely group of craftsmen, wandering the arid desert, are called by name, by God, to build Him a dwelling place called the Tabernacle. The Exodus account details how God specifically calls artists to make use of aesthetics, which make divine messages more tangible. The term “wise-hearted” signifies deep wisdom and skill, and emphasizes the spiritual depth in which artists work. The Tabernacle story dispels myths about artists’ societal role and showcases God’s intention for them to serve as makers.
How does your creative calling resonate with the Wise-Hearted Ones?
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Share your thoughts about artists' divine role in God's epic narrative.
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Transcript
Introduction to Be Make Do Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello, welcome to Be Make Do, a soul makers podcast where we explore what it takes to live out your call in the arts with spiritual wholeness and creative freedom. I'm your host, Lisa Smith, here with my producer, Danny BH. Hello, everyone. And it's our passion to encourage you to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make and do what you were created to do.
00:00:36
Speaker
Now, in our last episode, we were talking about how aesthetics shape us and how essential it is for us as Christians to acknowledge the fact that art has the capacity to impact us on bigger levels.
The Impact of Artistic Calling
00:00:52
Speaker
And then we're challenged as artists to be self-reflective and ask ourselves, how do I approach the work in a way that honors the fact that art is something that affects people's souls?
00:01:05
Speaker
Now that's a really beautiful call that implies it's bigger than just what you create. It's the whole you calling. So art is something we are called to do by God and God calls us by name and by heart. And that's the name of today's episode called by name called by heart.
00:01:26
Speaker
And I always, I think it feels so different to me when I'm talking to someone and they use my name. Like it feels, I don't know, just, it gets my attention. It feels more intimate and personal. In what context?
00:01:40
Speaker
Like any contact, I mean, probably especially people that are close to me, like loved ones or friends. But yeah, when I hear them use my name as opposed to saying like her or she, or just talking to me, like if you're trying to explain something to me and you're like, Lisa, this is what I'm trying to say. It just gets my attention in a different way. I feel more connected to you for some reason.
00:02:07
Speaker
Right, I think when people say my name, I feel like I'm in trouble. But on the flip side of that, I do understand what you're saying because I think when I see my name written, I kind of feel the same way. Interesting. Especially if it's like good stuff, you know, or compliments or a good, I don't know, a good review or write up or something where my name is involved in it.
00:02:34
Speaker
And you know, I'm like, hey, that's me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It speaks to your, like it gets the attention of you inside. Even like you said, when people, when somebody calls your name, you feel like you're in trouble. That's also very personal in the same way. I think that really connects with this story where God is calling people to make art by name and it links to this heart sense and
00:03:02
Speaker
I feel like there is, for me anyway, this calling to make art feels very personal. Do you feel like this calling is a heart call? Is there a heart element to it for you?
00:03:16
Speaker
I really do when it pertains to certain artistic projects that I'm working on, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? So whether that is like, I think where I feel it the most is when I'm writing all of my own stuff and I'm getting very personal with it.
00:03:36
Speaker
I kind of throw all the cards on the table and I feel so much free as opposed to if I'm playing the producer role or something like that, then it feels like a skill, more like a skill that is coming from like this heart place when I am doing my own thing. Sure.
00:03:58
Speaker
I think it's interesting that you mentioned the skill piece, because I think this does have to do with our motivations. Like if that calling is something that's about kind of fulfilling our own personal desires or just expressing ourselves or what we think, like those are all very valuable, meaningful reasons to make art. But when there is this sense of like, I am called to do it, I can't not do it, and I'm not doing it for,
00:04:27
Speaker
an audience in particular or even myself in particular, but I'm doing it because it's something I feel compelled to do. And the idea that that's linked to something that God is calling out of us is what I think is so special about this story and what is so special potentially about our call as artists, if we can get in touch with that heart connection for call, what God is calling us to.
Biblical Inspiration from Exodus 35
00:04:56
Speaker
So in this section of the story of Exodus 35, 1 to 29 that we're going to explore today, Moses has just gotten up in front of all the Israelites and explained God's plan for the tabernacle and invited them to participate. He tells them what God's asked and he sends them all away, sends them back to their tents to consider and pray. And only then
00:05:20
Speaker
when they have decided, when they felt a call to come forward, only then do they bring any of their offerings of materials or talent. And the Bible says it's the ones whose hearts were moved who respond. I love that description of a call, a response of a moved heart. I can really relate to that. And it feels so intimate and personal. All right, well, let's dive into the story. Let's do it.
00:05:59
Speaker
If art and design had the power to not only reflect, but also shape cultures, and if God not only recognizes this, but designed the arts this way on purpose, who do you think God would put in charge of such a priestly and prophetic task?
00:06:16
Speaker
In the Tabernacle Project, we see the embodiment of God's story with his people in architecture, art, drama, fashion, ritual, and food, no small production.
00:06:29
Speaker
Using God's own design, God would need the right people in place to oversee and complete it. Those with wisdom and knowledge, faithfulness and integrity. Surely God would entrust this holy assignment only to someone like Moses or one of his priests. But no, God ordained that it would require something else as well. Incredible artistic craftsmanship.
00:06:59
Speaker
For the first time since hovering over the waters in the creation of the world, God's Spirit is invoked to fill these artisans with gifts and capacity beyond their own. A supernatural partnering of God with his creation to make an aesthetic framework in which God's glory lived and dwelled. A structure of beauty for the formation of God's people.
00:07:28
Speaker
Wait, God called artists to lead? Let's stop right there. God calls pastors and missionaries and prophets and assistants and kings and even mothers. But artists? Yup. In the middle of the desert, in the middle of a time when God's people felt lost and confused, God called artists to lead. He raised up the wise-hearted ones.
00:07:58
Speaker
In and among the Israelites who had been held captive in Egypt were perhaps hundreds of skilled craftspeople who'd spent years training, learning, and practicing their craft. Now, they were called upon and prepared to work together to create something far beyond anything they'd ever been asked to create in their daily lives.
00:08:19
Speaker
The years of hard work, preparation, and apprenticeship were now called on for a greater purpose. A purpose they didn't know that they would have until that moment. Wood workers, metal workers, jewelers,
00:08:35
Speaker
furniture makers, sculptors, embroiderers, seamstresses, tapestry makers, linen makers, curtain makers, builders, utensil makers, silversmiths, goldsmiths, lamp makers, oil makers, priests to perform rituals, garment makers and engravers, accessory makers, makers of belts and waistband sashes and headbands and gem cutters, underwear makers, cooks.
00:09:00
Speaker
Bread makers, perfumers, incense makers, wine makers, all of these were wise-hearted ones.
Artisans and the Tabernacle
00:09:10
Speaker
And every wise-hearted among you shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing and wise-hearted." That's from Exodus 35.
00:09:38
Speaker
God could easily have instructed Moses to just select the most skilled craftspeople in the group to create the tabernacle. But God didn't do that. He called specifically, by name and by heart, the ones he had prepared since birth, the ones whose hearts and minds and actions reflected his.
00:10:04
Speaker
So even though most of us have probably never even heard of them, Bezalel and the Holy Ab, the lead artists, share the company of Abraham and Sarah and Moses and Aaron and David and the disciples. When God calls by name in the Bible, he calls for a particular and holy purpose. Let that sink in. Named artists are included in the company of the giants of the faith.
00:10:34
Speaker
Artistic work is included in the master plan of God's activity with his people. And those whose names were not recorded in the Bible were called by heart. There wasn't an audition process for all the artisans who worked together on the tabernacle.
00:10:52
Speaker
The text says that the Israelites heard Moses' words and went away to consider God's call. And then the wise-hearted ones came forward to offer all they had. They were the ones who responded to a personal calling sent out through an inner knowing, an inner response to God's own voice.
00:11:15
Speaker
Those whose hearts were tuned to God in this way responded as if they heard their own names being called, and it brought out the best in them. Those who responded to this heart call were then blessed with even more of God's grace and even more artistic skill and knowledge in order that they would have all the tools necessary to complete what God had in mind.
00:11:42
Speaker
If there was ever a testimony to what God intended for creative and artistic people, this is it. Okay, let's look more closely at this phrase, Wise-Hearted Ones, because it's here that we start to see what's required of us as artists who are called to serve in this way. What makes it a particular call?
00:12:05
Speaker
The term wise heart is found all over this story. And really, it's all over the Bible. It's a Hebrew term made up of two words, hakmat, which means wisdom, and leb, which means heart, hakmat, leb, wisdom, heart.
00:12:25
Speaker
These words are used throughout the Bible to describe skill. But it's skill as in something that you know by heart, something you're so good at that it's a part of you. It means to have a deep wisdom in a particular area. So in this context, in Exodus, the wise heartedness corresponds to artistic and crafts work.
00:12:51
Speaker
So it's most accurately translated as highly skilled artisans or artists. In the CSB version, it says, let all the skilled artisans among you come and make everything the Lord commanded. I mean, that's pretty cool. Have you ever read your Bible and seen the word artists or artisan or craftsmen there?
00:13:15
Speaker
I think it's important to be able to see your name, in a sense, in the Bible. It makes a difference. Doesn't it feel intimate when someone calls your name? For artists to see our name written there with a specific calling dispels so many myths and hang-ups about our work. Unfortunately for generations of artists and makers, this significant story of calling has often been obscured by translation.
00:13:44
Speaker
I know for a lot of people that might just seem like a simple matter of semantics, but for the artist, it's a significant missing part of the story. The ESV uses the translation skillful craftsman for the wise-hearted one, which is close, but many more contemporary translations just simply use the word skill. They just leave out the artisan or the craftsman altogether, like the NIV.
00:14:10
Speaker
all who are skilled among you are called to come and make everything the Lord has commanded, which I guess to a degree is technically correct, but it doesn't do anything to help us uncover the significance of the special calling. And then there's other translations like the RSV that seem to even go out of their way to obscure the meaning entirely. It says, let every able man among you come and make all the Lord has commanded.
00:14:39
Speaker
Well, that rendering of the text makes it sound as if anyone who's physically able participates in the work. But that is not the case at all. And further, it even limits the calling to men, which is clearly not the case, according to the text. The heavy artistic contribution by women is repeatedly referred to, along with the emphasis of both men and women being called wise-hearted in this story.
00:15:08
Speaker
It's important for artists of the Christian faith to hear that the Bible affirms their call. So often in my experience, artists have been treated as if they're selfish or stubborn for having a different perspective or having different needs or proclivities for worship, asking too many questions or insisting on things that seem impractical.
00:15:31
Speaker
In some cases, they've been actively dissuaded from pursuing their natural callings in favor of doing something more practical or useful, like becoming a missionary or a pastor or a children's minister, where their art gifts are happily used in service to the real mission of preaching the word or assisting in the alleviation of physical or emotional or mental needs.
00:15:56
Speaker
But here at the very beginning of the Bible, we see a different intention from God. Artists who were called to serve as artists. Makers who were called to serve as makers because the ascetics mattered.
00:16:18
Speaker
The aesthetics were a means by which God spoke, made His presence known, formed and discipled His people. For me, this is profound. The aesthetics matter to God. I can't imagine a church business meeting where that perspective would win the day, but here it is, evidenced by the sheer amount of detail listed.
00:16:43
Speaker
In fact, as I've said before, more chapters, words, and lines are given for the intricate detail of the tabernacle than for the law in Exodus. Even fashion, including underwear, is given consideration.
00:16:56
Speaker
Not because God is an earthly king who needs to have his glory reflected back to himself, but because he knows how we as humans are formed.
Cultural Influence of Art
00:17:08
Speaker
He knows how powerful aesthetics frameworks impact us, and what it draws out of us, and how easily distracted we are.
00:17:17
Speaker
and how much we need to be constantly reminded of something higher and better than our own immediate needs and desires. So we can be affirmed as artists by the story.
00:17:33
Speaker
But there is a second lesson for us here as well. These skilled craftspeople, the artisans, are not only skilled, but they were also wise hearted in a more universal sense.
00:17:48
Speaker
Unmistakably, the skill that's described here is connected to a deeper spirituality and wisdom. It's not just technical knowledge. Hakmat Leb implies that it's more than being good at something. It's about being faithful.
00:18:05
Speaker
In our modern context, we tend to think of the heart as Valentines and feelings. But in ancient wisdom tradition, the heart is not the emotional center of the body. It's the seat of deeper knowing, of deeper seeing, of your will. It's the part of you that knows beyond intellectual knowledge or just base desires. It's the centered place. The heart is the seat of wisdom.
00:18:33
Speaker
So those who were called to this task, who were connected to the deeper wisdom, were committed to following God, and it prompted them to give all they had into service. Whether it was material goods or skilled craftsmanship, they gave out of an overflowing and cheerful heart. In fact, they gave so much that the Scripture says that twice the word had to be sent out for the people to stop giving.
00:18:59
Speaker
The materials, the jewels and gold and visions for the temple were given in such an abundance that it just became overwhelming. There was too much amazing material to be used. Can you even imagine being in that place as an artist? When I read this story, so many conversations we Christians have about the arts just seem misguided.
00:19:22
Speaker
We may be reluctant to lean into the power of art and imagination, the sensory, but God certainly isn't. God knows we humans respond to what moves our hearts, not our heads. Our habits and character are shaped by our desires, not logic. Jesus was very clear on this when he said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
00:19:48
Speaker
And God knew that his people needed a way to make the invisible presence of God visible. And through God's own design, an army of makers were called together in an art project of magnificent scope to make it possible for God's people to live in embodied closeness with him.
00:20:12
Speaker
It took the entire community of artists and craftspeople, leaders, administrators, teachers, patrons, all working together, men and women, under the leadership of two artists, Bezalel and Aholiyev, to accomplish this task, to build this dwelling place for the Spirit of God.
00:20:37
Speaker
It's really difficult to read 11 chapters of intricate instruction on everything from decoration and fashion to perfume and bread making and miss that aesthetics matter to God. It's then a natural assumption to say that artists and makers matter to God as well.
Artists as a Unique Priesthood
00:20:58
Speaker
And in this story of the wise-hearted ones, God calls highly skilled craftspeople by name and by heart to carry out His plan. These highly skilled, highly talented, highly creative people are given a calling with as much purpose and intentionality and weight as any great warrior, leader, or administrator in the Bible.
00:21:24
Speaker
These wise-hearted ones were a forgotten priesthood of sorts whose prayers were physical acts of making, offered up to God for the good of the people. This significant moment marked not the character or specialness of the artists, but of the task to which they were called.
Preview of Next Episode
00:22:01
Speaker
Well, join us next time for An Artist Ordained, the next episode in our Wise Hearted Ones series. We're going to consider whether or not there is a unique calling for artists. And if so, what is it and what's required?
00:22:18
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Be Make Do, a Soul Makers podcast. Join us and many others for The Breath in the Clay, hosted by Makers and Mystics on Friday, March 22nd through Sunday, March 24th in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Lisa will lead the workshop curating wholeness, building a purposeful world through arts. Visit thebreathintheclay.com to reserve your spot. All links and resources for this episode can be found in our show notes.