Witty Inventions

A six-week small group series, working section by section through the Expanded teaching above.

A Six-Week Small Group Series

Each week walks through one section of the Expanded teaching in order, pairing an Old Testament passage with a New Testament passage so the group reads more deeply into the same ground the teaching covers. Plan for about an hour: read both passages aloud together, then work through the questions as a group. Want to go deeper on your own between weeks? Read the Teaching or Expanded version alongside this study.

WEEK 1: THE SKILL GOD GIVES

This week grounds the whole study in the tabernacle craftsmen — the clearest picture in Scripture of God directly depositing practical, hands-on skill into a person for a specific purpose.

Read together: Exodus 31:1-6

Discuss

• Bezalel's skill is described as a filling of God's own Spirit, not a natural talent he simply happened to have. Does that change how you think about your own abilities?
• God also gave Bezalel and Oholiab the ability to teach others what they knew. Who has taught you a skill, and whose skill might you be responsible for passing on?

Read together: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Discuss

• Paul lists gifts side by side — wisdom, knowledge, healing, skill — as all coming from the same Spirit. Does your church or workplace tend to rank some abilities as more “spiritual” than others? Should it?
• What is one ability you have that you have never thought to offer to God for the common good, the way Bezalel's craftsmanship was offered for the tabernacle?
• God named Bezalel specifically, by name, for this work. Does it change anything to think of your own skills as something God named you for, rather than something you developed entirely on your own initiative?

WEEK 2: WITTY INVENTIONS — WISDOM'S KNOWLEDGE

This week sits with Proverbs' picture of wisdom herself finding out “witty inventions,” and James's instruction for anyone who feels short on that kind of wisdom.

Read together: Proverbs 8:1, 12, and 2:6

Discuss

• The King James phrase “witty inventions” pairs discretion with the actual spark of an idea. Have you ever had a clever idea that lacked the discretion to use it well, or discretion with no spark to act on?
• Proverbs 2:6 says wisdom comes “from his mouth.” What would it look like this week to actually ask God for wisdom before starting a project, rather than only after getting stuck?

Read together: James 1:5

Discuss

• James says God gives wisdom “without finding fault.” Why might that reassurance matter to someone who feels foolish for not already knowing the answer?
• What is a decision in front of you right now where you genuinely need wisdom, not just information?
• James pairs asking for wisdom with asking in faith, without doubting. Is there wisdom you have asked God for but stopped expecting an answer to?
• What is the difference between asking God for wisdom and simply hoping a good idea eventually occurs to you?

WEEK 3: EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT

This week traces every good ability all the way back to its unchanging source, and looks at Moses' warning not to forget where it came from once it starts producing results.

Read together: Deuteronomy 8:11-18

Discuss

• Moses warns this specifically as a danger of prosperity and success, not failure. Why might it be easier to forget God in a season of accomplishment than in a season of struggle?
• What is something you have accomplished that you can now see, honestly, was made possible by an ability God gave you rather than one you built entirely on your own?

Read together: James 1:16-18

Discuss

• James says the Father “does not change like shifting shadows.” How does knowing the Giver is unchanging affect how you view a gift or ability that feels unstable or inconsistent in you?
• What is one good gift in your life this week you have not yet stopped to thank God for?
• Deuteronomy connects forgetting God specifically to comfort and success, not hardship. What habits could help you remember the Giver in the middle of a season that is going well?
• How might your household or group build in a regular practice of naming God as the source of your abilities, the way this study has tried to do?

WEEK 4: WHEN CLEVERNESS BECOMES PRIDE

This week names the danger side of the same gift: cleverness aimed at self-glory instead of God's glory. We read the clearest Old Testament example, then Paul's warning to a city famous for its own wisdom.

Read together: Genesis 11:1-9

Discuss

• The builders at Babel had real skill — brick-making and mortar were genuine engineering advances. What made the project go wrong was the motive, not the skill. Where have you seen real talent used for the wrong motive, in your own life or someone else's?
• What does it look like, practically, to build something impressive for God's name rather than your own?

Read together: 1 Corinthians 3:18-20

Discuss

• Paul says God “catches the wise in their craftiness.” Why do you think cleverness untethered from God tends to unravel, even when it looks impressive for a season?
• Isaiah 55:8-9 says God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours. How should that shape confidence in our own cleverness, without becoming an excuse to stop thinking carefully at all?
• Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust the Lord rather than lean on your own understanding. Is there a project or plan right now where you are leaning more on your own cleverness than on Him?
• Babel's builders worked together toward one shared, self-glorifying goal. What does it look like for a group — a family, a church, a workplace — to unite its collective skill toward God's glory instead?

WEEK 5: SOLOMON'S WISDOM AND ITS LIMITS

Solomon received more God-given wisdom than anyone before or since — and later, looking back over everything it built, wrote one of Scripture's most honest verdicts on what wisdom alone cannot supply.

Read together: 1 Kings 3:5-12

Discuss

• Solomon could have asked for wealth, long life, or victory over his enemies, and asked for wisdom instead. If God offered you the same open request today, what would you actually ask for first?

Read together: Ecclesiastes 2:22-26

Discuss

• Solomon built more, achieved more, and knew more than almost anyone in history, yet still needed to say satisfaction was ultimately a gift from God's hand, not a product of his own skill. Where do you look for satisfaction that Scripture says only God can actually supply?
• Colossians 2:3 says in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” How does that compare to Solomon's own wisdom, which was real but still had limits?

Read together: Daniel 1:8-17

Discuss

• Daniel and his friends chose discretion first, refusing to compromise, and only afterward were given wisdom beyond their peers. Where might you be tempted to compromise integrity in order to get ahead or produce something impressive?
• Nebuchadnezzar later found Daniel and his friends “ten times better” than every other wise man in his kingdom. Does it surprise you that refusing compromise, rather than pursuing advantage, was what produced that result?

WEEK 6: GIFTS FOR THE BODY — WITTY INVENTIONS TODAY

The final week widens the picture to community, and brings the whole teaching into the present moment with the clearest modern example of witty invention: artificial intelligence.

Read together: Exodus 35:30 - 36:1

Discuss

• God's gifting of Bezalel and Oholiab was always meant to multiply through teaching, not stay private. What skill has God given you that you could be actively teaching someone else right now?

Read together: Colossians 3:23-24

Discuss

• Every principle in this study applies directly to the newest witty invention most of us are watching unfold — artificial intelligence. Its capacity to reason and create did not originate in a chip; it traces back to the same Spirit who gifted Bezalel and Solomon. Does that change how you think about the people building it, or the tools themselves?
• A witty invention as vast as AI can become a tabernacle, offered back to God for the common good, or a modern tower built to make a name for humanity. What would it mean, practically, for you to hold a powerful new tool with an open hand instead of gripping it for your own name?
• As this study ends: what is one clever idea, skill, or tool in your life right now that you sense God inviting you to offer back to Him, rather than keep for yourself?
• Looking back over this whole six-week study — from Bezalel to Solomon to Daniel to artificial intelligence today — what is the one truth about your own giftedness you most want to remember?

Closing prayer, together

Father, thank You for the gift of cleverness itself — for hands that can build and minds that can solve. Forgive us for the towers we have built to make a name for ourselves instead of Yours. Give us wisdom, as You have promised to anyone who asks, so that whatever we build, we build well, and offer freely, for the glory of the Father of every good and perfect gift. Amen.