Exodus 31:1-5
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.
THOMAS MCCRIE (1797-1875): It is usually seen, that when Providence has some great work to accomplish in the Church, instruments are raised up admirably fitted for the part they are designed to perform.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): God’s fitting men for work is a sure and constant evidence of His calling them to it…Moses was fittest of all to govern Israel, but Bezaleel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle.
GEORGE MÜLLER (1805-1898): When He orders something to be done for the glory of His name, He is both able and willing to find the needed individuals for the work and the means required. Thus, when the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was to be erected, He not only fitted men for the work, but He also touched the hearts of the Israelites to bring the necessary materials and gold, silver, and precious stones.
MATTHEW HENRY: God knows what services are before us, and therefore how to prepare us.
ALEXANDER CARSON (1776-1844): All the persons who are called to take a part in the advancement or defence of the cause of God are gifted by Him with necessary qualifications. Many of these qualifications are given in their birth or education, though they may not for a length of time be called to use them. Sometimes they may even for years employ them in opposition to God. Such was the case with Paul, and doubtless some points of the character of this eminent Apostle were bestowed on him in his very constitution, with a view to the service of Christ. He had many things by immediate gift; but he had some things by mental temperament and education.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): God uses different types of men, and gives them different personalities…Natural gifts are not done away with, nor set on one side by the Holy Spirit. What the Holy Spirit does is to control them and to use them.
JOSEPH SYMONDS (died 1652): God fits [them] not only with a disposition, but with a spirit for the work.
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): He sometimes picks out men according to their natural tempers, and employs them in His work…So Elijah, a high-spirited man, of a hot and angry temper, one that slighted the frowns, and undervalued the valour of princes, is set up to stem the torrent of Israelitish idolatry. So Luther, a man of the same temper, is drawn out by the same wisdom to encounter the corruptions in the church, against such opposition which a milder temper would have sunk under.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): God uses coarse wedges for splitting coarse blocks…I am born to fight against innumerable monsters and devils. I must remove stumps and stones, cut away thistles and thorns, and clear the wild forest―I am rough, boisterous, stormy and altogether warlike.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Special men are needed for special times; and God always produces such men.
ALEXANDER CARSON: Anyone who reads the history of the Reformation with an eye to this characteristic in Divine Providence will see it surprisingly illustrated in innumerable instances.
J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): Luther, who was to act upon the people, was brought up as a child of the people; Calvin, who was to act chiefly as a theologian, as a thinker, and to become the legislator of the renovated church, received from infancy a more liberal education.
J. C. PHILPOT (1802-1869): The Lord suits His instruments to the work which He gives them to do.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): It is, however, peculiarly exemplified in the case of Paul. He was set apart from the womb―as he himself tells us, Galatians 1:13-16―to be a chosen instrument of preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. The frame of his heart, the manner of his life, the profession he made, and the services in which he was engaged before his conversion, were evidently suited to render him an unsuspected as well as a zealous witness to the truth and power of the Gospel after he had embraced it.
JOSEPH SYMONDS: Sometimes a man is, above ordinary course, called to some [particular] work.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): God fits him for the work, He calls him to the work, and He gives him the work to do.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): God fits the man for the place and the place for the man; there is an hour for the voice and a voice for the hour.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Different men are needed at different times.
EGERTON RYERSON YOUNG (1840-1909): He who called Paul and Stephen and Timothy and all the worthies of the apostolic age, has ever been selecting the right men for His glorious work. Augustine, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Latimer, Huss, Luther, Knox, Wesley and Whitefield, and scores of others have by their deeds shown most clearly how the hand of Providence has been at work in their preparation, call, and success, in the varied positions to which they have been assigned…The records of missionary toil are full of it―Carey, Morrison, Judson, Duff, Moffat, and many others.
OCTAVIUS WINSLOW (1808-1878): Probably, in no part of God’s dealings with His people is the perfection of His work more apparent—His wisdom, love, and power more clearly seen—than in fitting them for exact niche in life He had pre-ordained them to fill.
C. H. SPURGEON: God who sends the men, knows where to put them.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Nothing comes by chance in our affairs. The Lord determines the bounds of our habitations, appoints us our stations and offices, and assigns us our talents and opportunities…As He appoints us our stations and offices, and foresees all they will require, He arranges our trainings, and renders all our previous circumstances and experience preparatory to our fitness.
EGERTON RYERSON YOUNG: This same providential fitting for some great work, and the clear call to it, is still to be seen.
C. H. SPURGEON: We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras―we have dire need of such. Where are they? Whence will they come to us? We cannot tell in what farmhouse or village smithy, or school house such men may be, but our Lord has them in store. They are the gifts of Jesus Christ to the church, and will come in due time…These He is still able to bestow upon His people, and it is their duty to pray for them, and when they come, to receive them with gratitude. Let us believe in the power of Jesus to give us valiant men and men of renown, and we little know how soon He will supply them.
