Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How God Prepares You For Work | Torah | Exodus 31:1-11

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

How do you develop skills for work? Are your skills gifts from God? Does God have a role in the way you work? In today's episode, Patrick looks at Exodus 31:1-11 to discuss how God qualifies the builders of the tabernacle and what that means for your work. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Exodus 31:1-11

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller, and right now we're going through the Book of Exodus. When I was a teenager, one of my favorite movies was The Matrix. Now, I'm sure I liked it for some bad reasons, but at the most simple level, I liked it because it was a basic story about good versus evil. But one of my favorite parts of the movie was that humans could use these programs in the Matrix to learn incredibly complicated technical skills and a matter.

of minutes. That led to one of the movies most iconic and kind of embarrassing moments when the hero Neo, he downloads a program that's teaching him karate. And after a few minutes in the program, he opens up his eyes and he says in his deep Keanu Ree's voice, I know Jiu-Jitsu. It's funny, but it's kind of cool too. He uses the same program to learn how to handle weapons and how to fly Apache helicopters. And I think it was so interesting to me because it sounds like a dream. I would love a program like that in my life. Most worthwhile skills take years and years and years of practice to develop. Malcolm Gladwell famously talked about the 10,000 hour rule. He showed that the greatest artist and craftsmen alive have to spend an average of 10,000 hours on their craft,

practicing it just to be able to master it. He talked about this with the Beatles, how before they became famous, they went on mind-medingly long tours throughout Europe where they played for over 10,000 hours in front of crowds. It was only after the 10,000 hours, that they became the Beatles, the band that we know and love today. 10,000 hours is 416 days. That means you have to spend over a year's worth of work time practicing your skill or craft or developing your expertise or training your managerial impulses before you can really be a master of whatever it is that you do. That takes a ton of time. So squishing that much time down into a matter of minutes? Well, that would be the ultimate life hack. After I became a Christian, I read through the

book of Exodus. And chapter 31 always stood out to me because in the chapter leading up to this, Moses is laying out the blueprints for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent, and it was also Yahweh's dwelling place on earth as in heaven. But now we're at the point where it's time to build the thing. And it's not a simple tent. It's beautiful. It's ornate. It's a place of worship. And so, of course, it's going to require a master level of skill. to build. Now, on my first read, I thought that Yahweh totally did the matrix thing, that he had given a few dudes this ability to become master craftsman in a single moment. You'll see why I thought that when we read this passage. Exodus 31, verse 1. Then Yahweh said to Moses, see, I have chosen

Bezalel, son of Yuri, the son of her, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of of skills to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed a holiab, son of the Hissamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also, I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you. So what do you think? Did God upload artistry and craftsmanship into the minds of Bezalel and a holiab? Well, I think the answer is no. And I realized that as I kept reading Exodus.

I discovered that again and again, God describes not just Bezal and a Holyop, but all of the tabernacle workers as people who are quote-unquote skilled workers. It becomes evident as you go on that they developed these skills as slaves. They were probably building similar tents for Pharaoh or for his court. In other words, Bezal and a Holyab, they had already put in their 10,000 hours to become master craftsmen before they ever set out to work on the tabernacle. They learned those skills from other masters. They developed the muscle memory and the dexterity required to perform complicated tasks.

They practiced those things over and over and over. They tried. They failed. And eventually they succeeded until they were so skilled that God called them to build his own home on earth as in heaven. But all this begs a question. Why does Moses describe Bezal's skill in the way he does? I mean, I'll read it again. I, this is Yahweh speaking, I have filled him, that's Bezalel, with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills. The answer to my question, why does God describe the process this way, is both extraordinary and totally ordinary.

Yahweh didn't upload skills into Bezalel's head. Instead, Yahweh is saying that he superintended over Bezal's whole life. though perhaps Bezal really had no idea what was going on. But God was there. God was guiding him during his 10,000 hours. God was developing him into a man of unparalleled skill and excellence. To Bezalel, it all just felt like ordinary days. It all just felt like labor. It was all just humdrum, repetition, doing the same things over and over and over again.

But the truth was deeper. God said that his own Holy Spirit was at work in Bezal. in those moments for all of those 10,000 hours. In fact, Bezalel, he's the very first person in the entire Bible who's described as being filled with God's spirit and the spirit filled him to do everyday work. It's remarkable. And I think this has a profound meaning for your daily life and for your work. You see, if I asked you to give me a list of spiritual things or spiritually empowered things in your life, what would you say? You probably talk about prayer or Bible reading or living virtuously. And those are all true. If you come from a charismatic

tradition, maybe you'd talk about spiritual gifts like tongues or healing. But in every tradition, we might mention other gifts like teaching or hospitality or encouragement or administration or serving. And all of these things, all these answers, they're right. But spiritual gifts are not just uploaded into us by some arcane magic. They're skills that God has developed in us throughout our life by totally ordinary means. No great teacher just wakes up a great teacher. They have to hone the craft. No great encourager just wakes up a great encourager. They have to hone the craft. No great host wakes up just being a great host. They have to hone the craft. But we can press in even further. God's spirit filled Bezal with, and this is a quote,

wisdom, understanding, and with all kinds of skill. But what exactly were these skills? Well, we know what they were. They were the skills he needed for his everyday job back when he was a slave in Egypt. Now, stop and think about that. Your work, what you do every single day is not an accident. You may not love it. You may not even like it, but I can tell you this, it is not an accident. And if you're filled with God's spirit, you should know this. What you do isn't managed by your boss, first and foremost. it's being managed by your God. And regardless of whatever you think about your work, the Holy Spirit wants you to do your work with excellence.

He wants to make you into a master. If you flip burgers at a restaurant, he wants you to be a master chef. If you fill Excel spreadsheets all day, he wants you to be an Excel wizard. If you oversee investments at a big investment firm, he wants you to be an expert in the markets. Your work is spiritual.

your work should be done for the glory of God. Your work should be done excellently. I'm sure that there were days when Bezalel absolutely hated his job. There are days where he probably thought this. Here I am a slave. I'm building pleasure palaces for the people oppressing me. What's the point of all this? I'm just a pawn in some big scheme.

But he had no idea what God had planned, that the skills he developed during that time would be used, only to build God's own house, but to land him a spot in God's own word. You simply don't know your future. You have no idea how your skills will be used for the sake of God's kingdom. You have no idea how your excellence and your job may be used to lead to the flourishing and welfare of your fellow humans. Of course, we all wish we can know what was in the future. And I know not knowing the future can make things hard, but you don't have to know the future. You need only know this,

that the all-loving, all-good spirit of God is with you, and your work for him is not in vain. So go and do your job with this knowledge. It is a calling from the living God for the sake of His glory that should be done with excellence, the kind of excellence that only His Spirit can empower. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.