Ex 31:3, And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship… We are in the midst of our consideration of how the Lord makes every provision of wisdom, and skill and understanding for those who will seek Him. This is something which needs to take root in our hearts as to the manner in which we come before the Lord. 
There are a number of us who come. As did Moses, with the argument that we can’t do this or that because we are not quick-witted or equipped mentally or physically to do what the Lord requires of us. Then there are those of us who feel that we are able to do everything with our own power and initiative, without any need to go to the Lord for His supply and His blessing. This self-sufficiency is, in reality, as much a liability as is our argument of inability. In both cases, there is an utter rejection of the fact that we are to count on the Lord to give us everything necessary to do His work in full accordance to His honor and His glory. Nothing is to be for our own credit. It all belongs to Him!
We pick this up as the Prophet Isaiah gives us the proper means for seeing how even the farmer must credit God with the manner in which he plants and harvests His crops. Please open in your Bibles to Isa 28:23-29, as we need to read this together for the full effect of this truth. Isa 28:23-29, Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my words. Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground? Does he not level its surface, And sow dill and scatter cummin, And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place, and rye within its area? For his God instructs and teaches him properly. For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club. Grain for bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer. This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great. 
	This is a marvelous scripture for us to deal with in light of the wisdom and the understanding and the skill of man as given by God. These days, farmers are not considered with as much dignity and admiration as they once were. Early on in the civilization of man, farmers were seen as those who were dedicated to the feeding of the population for the sake of furthering all humanity. Without food, no one was going to do much of anything. Therefore, as the farmers fed the populace, so the tribes could develop into communities which could develop into towns, then into cities, then into national entities. 
As well, it was the farmers who were working with their hands in the soil continually, who provided a grounded reality of what life entailed and how it was to be lived. It was the farming class which dealt daily with life and death in both the planting and harvesting as well as the life cycle of livestock. They were therefore the grounded sages of the community, able to dispense common sense and perceptive insight as to how life functioned. 
	Notice that this earthy wisdom and understanding is instilled within the farmer by God as detailed by the Prophet. …For his God instructs and teaches him properly. At the end of this passage, Isaiah reaffirms that the every ability of how to farm and when and how to harvest is directly attributable to the wisdom given by God …This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.
	The key that we need to see is that even the farmer, who was the core element of the community, dealing with what might be considered by some as very basic knowledge of the elements of life, needed to count on the Lord for the very wisdom of how to farm and to bring forth the fruit of the labors of his hands. There is no one who can bring forth anything of value apart from going before God and asking Him for the wisdom and the understanding and the skill necessary to produce that which will be for His purposes. 
	This so goes against the societal norms and practices of this day when self-reliance and self-determination and self-exaltation is the pinnacle of what we are striving to achieve. Everyone, every where is determined to ruthlessly pursue the maximum triumph of self-actualization, thus utterly failing to recognize and accede to the fact that the value and the purpose and the functioning of life all comes from God.
	Daniel saw this truth so many centuries ago. He was one of the greatest visionaries of mankind. He accounted it all to God as we read in Dan 2:20-23, when he was tasked with the most impossible responsibilities of telling the king what the king had dreamed and what it meant. Dan 2:20-23, Daniel answered and said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. "And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, And knowledge to men of understanding. "It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. "To Thee, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee, For Thou hast made known to us the king's matter." 
	Daniel did not take it for granted that he understood what and how things were developing. He served three kings during his lifetime, accumulating great earthly honor as a wise man with exceptional abilities to understand the future events of mankind. However, Daniel never assumed that he had any power on his own. He was constantly praying and reading the scriptures and asking God to make known what the Lord would have known. Everything was accounted unto God and for the sake of the glory of God in all Daniel’s dealing with those kings …"Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him…"It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.
	The Apostle Paul opens this reality expressed by Daniel unto us as he details how the church is to function under the provision of the Lord’s wisdom and understanding in operation. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Cor 12:1-11, so we can read this together. We will hopefully come to a greater understanding that everything that we require in order to function as the Body of Christ is only ours by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. 
1 Cor 12:1-11, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 
    	So often, we see those who are caught up in the elementary principles of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as if we are only capable of receiving one or two of these gifts. There is that teaching within Christendom that these gifts are sparingly parceled out by God to just a few blessed people. But that is not what we read here. What we see is that God gives in accordance to what is needed for the common good of all. When healing is required, the Holy Spirit heals. When wisdom is required, the Holy Spirit gives wisdom. When knowledge is necessary, He makes known what needs to be done, and so on. There is no dearth of these gifts, no meagerness, no limited supply. What is needed is provided. Sometimes it may be through one person, sometimes through a variety of individuals. 
The key is that we come to know that when these gifts are given, they are not to be considered as my gift for my purposes and my glorification. It is for the sake of the whole Body and will only be for the glory of God. Therefore, if He puts it upon us to share a word of encouragement or teaching or admonition, we can count on Him to supply the every word required for that work and it will always be to His glory. 
That is the measuring rod that we can freely use to determine whether what is to be shared should be shared. If it is from Him and unto Him for the sake of His glorification, then we can freely honor Him in it. If, however, it becomes a focus upon us and on our abilities and our further stature becomes the concern, then we best keep our hands off and our mouths closed. 
The Apostle Paul further encourages us along this line in his letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 6-8. Phil 4:6-8, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. When we are truly seeking after God for the wisdom and the understanding and the ability to do that which is of service unto Him, we can always hold it to this passage. Are we experiencing the reality that He will always work in us unto that which brings forth thanksgiving and peace, graced by excellence and purity, bringing forth praise and honor unto Him?
	Brother James deals with this same truth from the vantage point expressed in James 1:2-5. James 1:2-5, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 
	In the midst of the every trial and tribulation, we are to joyfully ask God to provide the wisdom necessary to honor Him as we go forward. This is not a masochistic outlook on life, but a truly joy-filled, peaceful anticipation of seeing how God will make every provision. He will show forth His glory in detail after detail as He works out the solution to that which is humanly impossible.
	James tells exactly why this will be later in this first chapter, verses 16-18. James 1:16-18, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. 
	As we learn to deal with everything from the grace and the wisdom and the provision of God, so will it become more and more evident that we are His Beloved Children in Jesus Christ, the first-fruits among His creatures. We were created for this living relationship with Him and He is the One Who gives us all that we need in the perfection of His Son and His Holy Spirit. This is in order to show the totality of His creation the truth that He is the full essence of love and truth and is worthy of all praise and adoration and honor and glory. 
	We conclude our contemplation with the encouragement of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:14-16. 2 Peter 3:14-16, Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 
	Please note that Peter expresses the truth that what we read in the letters of the Apostle Paul is the wisdom of God. It was given to him in order that we might understand that we are to …be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation… 
The manner of our salvation is by the patience of God as He manifests His so great love and grace and peace and wisdom and understanding on our behalf. We are saved, not by anything of our own doing, but as in all that we have considered. It is the gift of God in the giving of His Only Begotten Son. Therefore, as with the every detail of our lives, we are to seek God and ask Him to do in our lives all that will bring honor and glory to His name, alone. He is our peace and our wisdom and our understanding, and we need to learn to rejoice in Him and give Him thanks for His so overwhelming and magnificent provision of all that we need day after day after day. So be it!
	And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship… Amen.

We pray that every family comes together this week to give God the thanks for all that He has done in Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving is an official day, not for football or for feasting, but for the offering of gratitude that God has so blessed our country, for all these centuries with His Sovereignty and grace. Many in these days no longer see it as a day of reflection on the bounty of His provision and His ruling and overruling in the development of this democratic government. Therefore let us ever hold before us the prayer for our country as delineated in 2 Chron 7:13+14. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Amen. 
This morning’s benediction is Ps 145:1+2. I will extol Thee, my God, O King; And I will bless Thy name forever and ever. Every day I will bless Thee, And I will praise Thy name forever and ever. Amen.