Diligence! In particular, diligence with the wealth that one has! Today’s reading discusses the person who is diligent and continues being diligent.
Proverbs 27:23 says to know the state of your flocks and put your heart into caring for them. Wealth does not come from putting our noses into someone else’s flock or wasting time thinking about how much better off we would be if we only had… Diligence in working out our situation with what we have and not what we wish we had is the point. Glamorous or exciting? No! But it works! This shows who is lazy and who isn’t.
According to Proverbs 27:24, diligence during the good times protects one during the lean times. Good times, which are usually felt by way of abundance and ease, are not things guaranteed to last long. Lean times always come. Everything is cyclical. Don’t rest during good times.
Proverbs 27:25-27 is all about the benefits of diligence over time. After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field. And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls. (Proverbs 27:25–27, NLT) Diligence is the key, which, when applied faithfully over time, causes what one has to grow, multiply, and produce in such a way as to be more than enough for one’s needs and comforts. Human nature, though, wants everything now, as though diligence is a scourge.
In short, diligence with what we have (not wish we had) over the long haul, through good and lean times, is a great recipe for always having enough and then some.
Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Proverbs 27-29.