Mensa Otabil - The Results of Wisdom
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Exodus chapter 31, verses 4 and 5: to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work all manner of workmanship. This is the continuation of the instruction God gave to Moses concerning Bezalel, the man who has been called by God to execute the assignment that God has given to Moses. God gave Bezalel technical skill, capacity to think, and mastery in the field to which he has been called.
As we read this passage, God talks about workmanship. Workmanship. All that God has blessed him with is for the purpose of workmanship. Workmanship has to do with trade, occupation, or something that you are working in. For a person like Bezalel, the workmanship will be in carving and so on. But if you are a lawyer, your workmanship is different.
If you are a pastor, your workmanship is different. If you are a footballer, your workmanship is different. It is the trade. It is your ability to do the work that you are supposed to be doing. God gave wisdom to Bezalel so that he would be able to do something. Each one of us has been given wisdom by God. Each one of us, whether you believe it or not, has been given wisdom. But that wisdom is related to a workmanship. I have wisdom related to my work as a pastor. If you are called to do something else, God has given you wisdom in that area. If God truly called you to do what you are doing, He has given you the wisdom for it, and He has given you the ability to run what you are doing effectively with the wisdom that He has given to you.
The problem is that sometimes God gives us wisdom in one area, and then we do something else, and that may not be something we have wisdom in. The wisdom of Bezalel was manifested in two ways: to design and to work. To design means to draw out a plan. Whenever God gives us wisdom in a particular area, He gives us the ability to work out a plan in that area. You can think about and conceptualize ideas. If you are an author, you sit down, and all of a sudden you are able to put a plot together and write your story. If you are a lawyer, you can envisage your case and put your case together.
Now, people who don’t have that wonder how you do it. It is the wisdom that comes with the grace God has given you for the work He has called you to. You are able to design things; you can plan out or draw out a plan. Not only does He plan, but God says that Bezalel will be able to work or to cause things to be, to make things. God’s wisdom is not just theoretical; it’s like what happens when there is a football match, and everybody’s trying to coach the Black Stars or a team, and we are talking about it from our point of view. But when you are put on the job, you may be a total failure.
Talking about something is one thing; being able to do it is another. The wisdom God gives us is not just a talking wisdom or a thinking wisdom; it’s also a doing wisdom. We are able to get there and do what we say we have the competence to do. For Bezalel, it was God who gave him these gifts. For most of us, in addition to the grace God has given to us and the anointing, we also go to school, learn, study, master our field, and develop technical competence and the capacity to think so that we can be good in our workmanship. When you’re good in your workmanship, you can design, execute, and cause work.
So Bezalel is a builder of solutions, and wisdom makes us builders of solutions. When we have wisdom, we don’t create the problem; we solve the problem. Wisdom always has a plan. Wisdom always has a plan. Wisdom designs solutions, and wisdom produces results. This is the God-kind of wisdom. It always has a plan, always designs solutions, and always produces results. I pray that that anointing will rest upon you, that God will grace you with the wisdom to think about, design, and work out the plan and produce the results.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, help me to design solutions for problems and help me to produce results with my ideas in Jesus' name.» Amen. And amen.