Is it just me, or is there particular pleasure to be gained from completing a job with a tool that has been designed and made for that task? I am not talking just about the satisfaction of a job well done, and not talking at all about the temptation to make tool-collecting a hobby in its own right. Contrast the frustration of fighting with the spanner or screwdriver that doesn’t quite fit, and the precision of the perfect match between Allen key and bolt; the saw that makes cutting that particular material in that particular way a pleasure rather than a battle; lightly guiding the SDS drill while it effortlessly powers its way through brickwork which has defeated the combined efforts of my weight and an ordinary masonry drill.
We are, Genesis 1 tells us, created in God’s image. This almighty and all powerful God calls us to follow him and work with him to build his Kingdom. The Bible shows us how he forges and equips his servants to fulfil the specific tasks to which he sets them. Think Joseph, Moses, Daniel and Nehemiah. Think of the apostles; ordinary men who became the instruments through which God’s good news flowed from Judea into the whole world.
Might there be, in our handiwork, a faint echo of the delight which God takes in shaping and using his tools? I wonder how the Master is moulding you to His design, and for what purpose he is patiently perfecting you?
Image credit: Photo by Keating / CC BY 2.0
