Inspiration From Above

A River Of Inspiration

You can draw from your own resources when you create, or you can draw from heaven.

It almost seems like cheating.  It’s one thing to let our imaginations run wild as we try to be creative; it’s another to look to God for ideas.  It’s like the student who doesn’t know the answers, so he copies off someone else’s paper.

But lately, I keep running into a quote from Picasso:  “Bad artists copy.  Great artists steal.”

If you want to look at what Picasso meant, run a search on “Great artists steal.”  But his words echo a theme Solomon addressed in Proverbs 14:14 –

The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways,
But a good man will be satisfied from above.

First he lists contrasting people, the backslider in heart vs. the good man ; then he shows that they both are filled and satisfied, but with different things.  We can be filled with our own ways, or from above.

For an artist, the contrast is clear.  Our own ways are our own talents, our creativity, our techniques, our ideas.  But that which is from above is the inspiration we receive from God.

Today’s art schools equip the artist for self-expression, but few train the artist to draw from heaven’s resources.

The key is in the phrase “backslider in heart”, a phrase that has a spiritual meaning.  It refers to those who have inwardly slid back out of a relationship with God.

We can be backsliders in heart while outwardly maintaining a form of spirituality.  We can be churchgoers; we might say our prayers or read the Bible every day; we can seek to develop good character as we go through life’s ups and downs.  But what’s going on inside?  Do our hearts engage with God, taking time to listen to Him for fresh ideas?

Many people have never considered the possibility that part of Christian living is hearing from God.  It’s not that we have slid back out of such a relationship; we never knew it existed in the first place.

Solomon’s father was David the king, a man who heard from God as he wrote prophetic poems and songs.  Solomon himself had learned to draw from God as a scholar, a lecturer, and a writer – all of this above and beyond his duties as king.  Throughout his lifetime, he met people who were creative leaders in the arts.

Solomon himself is famous for his backsliding.  He began as a young king who asked God for wisdom because he did not trust that his own mental and spiritual resources were great enough to enable him to look after the welfare of his subjects.  By the end of his life, he sank into self-sufficiency.

We don’t know at what point Solomon wrote this proverb.  But we can be sure he saw the acute difference between those who leaned on God for inspiration and those who drew from their own resources, first in others around him, and then later in himself.

Is it stealing to take inspiration from God? Picasso may have thought so; you may prefer to think of it as simply receiving a gift.  But the choice is yours:  do you want to base your creativity on your own ways, or on the resources from above?

Jesus has provided access to the Father.  He said, “My sheep know My voice.”  We will find Him very willing to speak to us about our art, just as He speaks about every other area of our lives.

It begins with the choice to cultivate a listening ear and a watchful eye.

Stan Smith  ::   © 2008, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com