Creating with God

As Gods children we are called to embrace our identity, and our nature as creative beings. This is why, in Genesis, God creates us and then takes a day off as He lets us get to work creating what we were meant to create. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also take a day off and rest

See, we were created to work and be creative, but we are also meant to rest and spend time with God in order to refuel our passions and creativity. For myself, I always have my most fulfilling and creative ideas when I completely shut off everything and just let myself hear from God and spend time in his word.

In 1 Kings, I found some cool ways that Solomon was able to use creativity to serve God, and how our creativity cannot be at its best without God. For example; in 1 Kings 5:3 it says “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.” Another translation would say “until the Lord had given him victory over all his enemies.”

I think this shows us that we cannot do our best work for God from a place of warfare. Until we surrender the battle over to Him and He brings us victory, we can’t create our best work for the Glory of God. In other words; our mental state plays a crucial role in our creative work. If we are not surrendering our battles to God daily then our work will be from a place of struggle rather than a place of freedom. We will always view our creative expression of worship as a chore, rather than a gift. (I will go into more detail about creativity as a form of worship in my next post.)

Continuing on in 1 Kings 5, it says in verses 4-5; “But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’”

Solomon was able to create his best work for the glory of God from a place of rest. So I guess, in summation; rest isn’t only important for our mental/spiritual health. It also plays a big role in our ability to be creative, and our ability to redirect the recognition back to God. What’s more? Solomon recognized that the battle was not his to win or lose. God gave him victory. In the same way, our creativity is not our own. God gave it to us and he wants to give us peace so that we can create from a place of rest in him. (Keep an eye out for my next post where I’ll talk about Creating For God.)