Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.
~Proverbs 3.19-20
You were created to work. Work is not the result of the fall. Arduous, frustrating, unfruitful work is the result of the fall, but work itself is not. The need to work is not bolted onto some “pure essence” so that it can be happily discarded one day. We are workers because we are the image of God. God is a worker, therefore, we are workers. The opening lines of Scripture reveal God as a worker: “In the beginning God created….” For six days he separates and brings back together, he forms and fills the unformed and unfilled. He works.
Proverbs 3.19-20 tells us that he does all this by wisdom and its companions, understanding and knowledge. Wisdom understands relationships; how relationships are supposed to be formed so as to create what is true, beautiful, good; to create shalom, peace. Whether you are painting a portrait or dealing with marriage, whether you are building a house or building a culture, wisdom is needed at every level. Wisdom understands the relationships of colors and shapes to one another, but it also understands how to speak to one another and what laws to make and enforce that will maintain peace and prosperity in a society. Wisdom, Proverbs 8 says, is a “master craftsman” who was integral to arranging the original creation, putting water and land, firmament and earth, and man and woman in proper relationships with one another.
God grants his Spirit of Wisdom–the same Spirit that hovered over the waters of the original creation–to Bezalel in order to oversee the construction of the Tabernacle, God’s dwelling place (Ex 31.2-11; 35.30-35). Though God gave Moses many details about the construction of the Tabernacle, there are many details left out. Bezalel’s wisdom took the fundamentals God gave him, grasped the purpose of the structure, and then created and arranged the parts of the Tabernacle to fit with the others in proper relationships. God gave Bezalel wisdom in order to work, to be productive and create.
Bezalel worked with inanimate objects in an artistic fashion. Those inanimate objects were good in themselves and the work with them was worthy. The physical Tabernacle would be the dwelling place of God’s glory. But the Tabernacle also symbolized God’s people. Paul picks up on this when describing his and his cohorts’ ministry in 1Corinthians 3. Paul is a “wise master builder” (1Cor 3.10) who is building the church, the Temple of God. He is building a house for the Spirit with living stones (1Pt 2.5). Unlike Bezalel’s material, Paul’s material wiggles, not always acting as it should. Nevertheless, he must work to build God’s house by setting churches in proper order, teaching them how to relate to one another with their various gifts (1Cor 12) so that each may contribute to the maturation of the body of Christ (Eph 4.1-11).
On the Day of Pentecost, Christ gave the church the Spirit of Wisdom. Wisdom was not given to us so that we might sit on a high mountain and think great thoughts, coming down every once-in-a-while to share our great thoughts on social media or academic journals. Wisdom was given to us to work, working with the same purpose as Bezalel and Paul: to build God’s house.
As with Bezalel and Paul, building God’s house involves working with the non-human as well as the human creation. Building God’s house is as much the job of the mechanic as it is the missionary, the plumber as well as the pastor. We don’t all have the same jobs, but we all have the same job: to build God’s house. There is a division of labor, but each of us labors for the same purpose. In our various vocations, we all need wisdom.
Wisdom comes in all shapes and sizes, but it is all meant for productive labor. Wisdom is knowing how to decorate a house, arranging the furniture and hanging appropriate art, so that it doesn’t look as if a bomb went off in the house and left it a chaotic mess. Wisdom is also about how to manage the household relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and siblings with siblings so that the household enjoys God’s peace. Wisdom is about knowing when to use a wrench and when to use a hammer in order to create or repair something so that it works for the benefit of productivity (which could be simple enjoyment). It is also about knowing how what you are doing is working for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Wisdom is about building beautiful church buildings that reflect the church’s purpose of worship. It is also about building relationships of peace so that the church is what God created her to be.
You are called to this work by the mere fact that you exist as a human, the image of God. To do this work you need wisdom. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of this wisdom; that is, you submit to him and his understanding of all things first, looking at the world through the eyes of his revelation. You grow in wisdom by walking with the wise (Pr 13.20) and through experience, never forsaking the fundamentals. Growing in wisdom is vital to your work, and work, whatever shape it takes, is vital to you fulfilling your purpose as the image of God. So, get wisdom (Pr 4.5).
