The Craftsman

Sometimes God uses imagery with me of His hands doing things. They are disembodied hands (much like the character "Thing" from the 1991 Adam's Family movie.) Whenever I see them, I know they represent "the hand of God"-- something God himself is doing. They are usually seen in situations that I have no control over. They are doing things I have no power to do on my own and are often in locations out of reach for me-- places I can't get to-- places behind the scenes, if you will.

Recently God showed me his hands doing woodworking. Specifically, they were running a board through a large scroll-saw. A scroll saw looks very much like band saw but has a tiny blade which reciprocates. It moves up and down vertically instead of continuously in one direction, and is used to do fine detail work. As I watched, the hands were cutting some incredibly beautiful sweeping curves in the wood by moving it against the saw. I also noticed that while the curves were geometrically perfect, there was no pattern on the wood to guide the craftsman. If I were doing it myself, I would want to have a graphic artist make a design for me to transfer onto the wood, much like a tattoo artist does. That way I could just follow the pattern. But no-- God was doing this free-hand, all by himself, with no visible pattern to guide Him. This was art! Oh the craftsmanship!

As I reflected on the curves in the board, I realized that I couldn't tell what God was actually making. This board was going to be combined with other boards to make something gorgeous, but I couldn't tell from the pattern what the end result would be. A coffee table? An elaborate conference table? I had no idea, but it was clear that this was not the finished piece. It was to be a component to a much larger piece of furniture, perfectly fit to other beautiful pieces of wood in ways I couldn't even imagine.

I couldn't see imperfections in the lumber from my angle, but I am sure they were there. But I am absolutely convinced that God the master craftsman was taking every minute imperfection into account in how he shaped that piece of wood, turning it into art. I am thinking of the 15th century Japanese kintsugi artisans, who would take a broken piece of pottery and painstakingly piece it back together with slow-drying urushi lacquer and gold. Repairs could take months, but the end result? Spectacular.

There is a lovely scripture passage that talks about this. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV) tells us:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

We are God's workmanship. His glorious art project. He is working behind the scenes to shape us-- all while taking account of our imperfections. When he has us exactly like he wants us, he will join us with other beautifully imperfect pieces to make something glorious. The cutting process might be painful and we don't get to see the end result-- not just yet-- but we must trust the process.

Let us trust the Master Craftsman as he shapes us to make something truly amazing.