Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
EXODUS 35:30-33 | 30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 he has filled him with a divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge, and with every kind of skill, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of artistic craft.
Moses recognized the creative skill of Bezalel and describes it as a divine spirit-inspired gifting, a form of intelligence. Howard Gardner, in a series of books, has described his research into human intelligence and identified nine kinds: visual-spatial, linguistic-verbal, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and pedagogical. These categories have led, unsurprisingly, to an ongoing debate about which abilities are innate and which can be acquired and there have been many attempts to lengthen the list or modify it. But long before, Moses had identified creative capacity as a specific gift and a form of intelligence as well as a skill. Most importantly, he would see it as a spirit inspired capacity.
What forms of intelligence or skill are native to you?
