Henry Ford’s auto assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan had ground to a halt due to the malfunction of a gigantic generator. When his own electrical engineers were at a loss, he called in General Electric to solve the problem. They sent the “Wizard of Schenectady,”
one Charles Proteus Steinmetz, who already had established a reputation for his practical brilliance as a mathematician and scientist.
Steinmetz asked only for paper, pencil, and a cot, and after listening to the generator, worked on calculations non-stop for two days and nights. He climbed a ladder, and marked a plate on the generator with chalk. He told Ford’s men to remove the plate, and replace sixteen windings of the generator’s coil, which they did, although somewhat skeptically.
The generator again ran perfectly, and Ford was delighted, until he got a bill from GE for $10,000. He demanded an itemized invoice, wondering how making a chalk mark could cost so much.
Steinmetz replied personally:
Making chalk mark on generator: $1.00.
Knowing where to make mark: $9,999.00.
Ford paid the bill.
We’ve all witnessed experts in their fields, working magic in music, art, trades, crafts, and literature. We tend to think of these folks as born geniuses, gifted, special individuals who just happen to be lucky enough to inherit the right DNA.
But another way to look at it is that such “gifts” are given by the Great Giver, and we should recognize Him in the image of His creature. God tells Moses to call in the experts for the crafting of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 31). He specifically names Bezalel and Oholiab, and says that the Spirit of God had granted them “ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship. . .”
The Lord wants us to worship all of the time, not just for an hour on Sunday. Here is one way to do it. The next time your mechanic fixes your car, the plumber saves your home from a flood, an electrician rewires a switch, or a painter perfectly finishes a room, thank them. And then thank the Lord who made them and enables the expertise of the experts. For their work, as brilliant as it may be, is but a pale shadow of the Grand Architect of All Things.
“Father, we acknowledge your workmanship all around us, and also in the gifting of those who serve us and make our daily lives better. Help us be grateful to them, and also to You, whose image they bear. Amen.”