Unexpectedly Equipped

It's certainly a blessing to be in a situation you feel very comfortable with and are fully prepared for.  Maybe you had a chance to gather yourself ahead of time or you've been through it before.  Whatever the case, if you're prepared for the situation, it'll be much easier.  That's not always the case though, is it?


I don't know what in your life is the unexpected and unprepared-for circumstance, but I bet it's stressing you out.  I bet you don't feel like you're ready for it - or at least you could have been more ready for it if you would have known ahead of time.  That's the funny thing about life: God seems to send us into situations that we just don't know how to handle.  He did that with Israel when they were under the yoke of slavery by the Egyptians.


Besides making bricks, Exodus doesn't really talk about what kind of other work the Israelites did.  It leaves it open to imagination.  Thinking on it, they must have done more than just make bricks.  I'm sure that the Egyptians recognized talent in their slaves and put them to work.  They probably had them working in the temples creating idols, crafting ornate walls, sculpting statues and the like.  Many of the things that the slaves probably did would have involved materials that were difficult to work with such as marble, precious metals, gems, and fine woods.  There were probably also different managerial levels within the slavery system.  I'm sure that certain slaves would have shown leadership skills and were put in charge of other slaves.  This would only make sense given the number of Israelites that the Bible mentions there were in relation to the Egyptians.  The people of Israel were learning valuable skills that would give them a kick-start when they left to go start their own nation despite being slaves under the Egyptians.


Maybe this is all speculation.  Maybe they didn't learn how to be architects, managers, artisans, and skilled craftsmen.  We have no way of knowing.  We do know Moses' account.  He was taken from the river and raised as a king.  Once the Pharaoh that raised him died and the new Pharaoh came to power, he would have been second in the whole kingdom.  He would have been Pharaoh's right hand.  In such a position, he would learn how to run Egypt; he would learn how to lead a nation.


Given his experience running a nation, it's puzzling to me why he would have complained to God "why me?"  He ran an entire country before, why did he feel inadequate when asked to do it again?  He didn't think he was equipped to do it.  What he didn't realize at the time was that he already had all of the tools he needed in his toolbox.  As he led Israel out of Egypt and into the desert, he began to realize that we was equipped for the job with both his past experience and on-the-job training that comes from trusting the Lord.  Moses was born to be a leader of a nation.  Even as difficult problems arose Moses had never seen before, God made ways for Moses and the new nation of Israel to overcome them.


One of the challenges Moses faced was when God gave him the long, detailed list for worship - specifically for the tabernacle and the Arc of the Covenant.  This is where we get introduced to a little known character in the Bible: a guy named Bezalel.  Exodus 35:30-33 tells of God's description of him:

See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son or Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work with gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.

I'm sure Bezalel wasn't some regular guy before all of this.  He was probably a craftsman his entire life, including in Egypt.  God prepared his knowledge and skill do fulfill his commandments well before Bezalel even knew that he would leave Egypt.  Even if he was an ordinary guy, God filled Bezalel up with the Spirit of God and gave him the skills he needed to server God.


If God could use 400 years of slavery in Egypt to prepare Israel to become her own nation, he can use our challenges in life to our gain as well.  He allows us to go through difficult things in order to prepare us for the road ahead.  He does that knowing two things.  First, he wants us to trust him and he knows that the situation will force you into a place where you'll need to trust him.  Second, he gives us something to get us through.  That could be friends, past experience, strength of will, prayer, the Bible or a combination thereof.  If you have trouble trusting him (I know I do at times), it'll be harder to get through it, but certainly not impossible.  If you look back and are really honest with yourself, you might realize that you had more tools to get through the situation than you originally thought.  You might start to see that, just like with Moses, God was preparing you to get through this before you even knew you'd have to go through it.


To me, this often seems manifests itself in my community.  I'm surrounded by people who can hold me up when I'm feeling like I'm falling.  Other times, what I need is related to something I've gone through in the past.  Every time, it comes down to where I'm putting my hope and trust.  God always gets me through and I find that I'm unexpectedly equipped in the moment.