2007-11-30
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We've been comparing MT 6: 24-24 with PR 31: 10-31. The first passage is Christ's Sermon on the Mount words on material wealth-things like (24), "You can't serve two masters, God and mammon," His question in (27) "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?", and some mighty important advice in (33), "Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you." Worrying about God's provision isn't what he wants us to do, but trusting Him is. The second passage in PR 31 is a description of the ideal wife. However, in the context of mammon in today's society, it is really the ideal person, male or female, married or single. The principles are the same. Each principle in this 22 verse passage can be assigned one letter in the Hebrew alphabet. These are the traits we've already seen: aleph (valuable); beit (trustworthy); gimmel (righteous); dalet (industrious); hay (values family); vav (organized); zayin (wise decisions putting Kingdom of God first). Remember that mammon is defined as "that in which must trust is placed" (active), rather than it's original meaning of "that which is entrusted" (passive).
Today, we examine the verse represented by the Hebrew letter, chet, PR 31:17, "She is a hard worker, strong and industrious." Throughout the Bible God shows us repeatedly that He doesn't value laziness and lack of character. Let's look at some from Proverbs, for example. PR 6: 10-11, "I'll just take a short nap,' he [the lazy man says]; 'I'll just fold my hands and rest a while.' But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber." PR 20: 13, "If you spend your time sleeping, you will be poor. Keep busy and you will have plenty to eat." PR 6: 10-11 is repeated in PR 24: 33-34. We must remember that if God repeats something in the Scriptures, He is doing that to emphasize how important it is. PR 26: 14, "The lazy man turns over in bed. He gets no farther than a door swinging on its hinges." PR 26: 15, "Some people are too lazy to put food in their own mouths." Here's a favorite of mine, PR 26: 16, "A lazy man will think he is smarter than seven men who can give good reasons for their opinions." Proverbs in not the only place where discussion of laziness is found. Look at IS 30: 7 in which Isaiah is talking about a useless treaty between Israel and Egypt. "The help that Egypt gives is useless. So I have nicknamed Egypt, 'The Harmless Dragon.'" God comments on daydreamers among Israel's leaders in IS 56: 10, "He [the Lord] says, 'All the leaders who are supposed to warn my people, are blind! They know nothing. They are like watch dogs that do not bark-they only lie around and dream. How they love to sleep!'" When God was instructing the Israelites what to do about their enemy, Moab, in JER 48: 10, He says, "Curse the man who does not do the Lord's work with all his heart! Curse the man who does not slash and kill!" God never wanted His creation to be lazy. That's abundantly clear in PR 14: 23, "Work and you will earn a living; if you sit around talking you will be poor." [I would love to cite that one in a chamber with our government's leaders some time ☺].
Comments about God's abhorrence of laziness aren't only in the OT. Jesus had something to say about this in MK 14: 41 when He came back a third time to the disciples in Gethsemane finding them asleep. "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come! Look, the Son of Man is now being handed over to the power of sinful men." Paul was inspired by God to write, in RO 12:11, "Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion." Again, he takes up the subject in HE 6: 12, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised." All of this should be a warning to those people who, when they learn that God will supply their needs [PHIL 4: 19] and will come for believers for "a meeting in the air" [1 THESS 4: 13-17], go up on a mountain to do nothing but wait; that this is not at all what God intended. We are to be hard at work at God's tasks, not just for ourselves. If we go all the way back to GN 3: 17 and 19, God's intentions for us are clear. We are told "You will have to work hard all your life to make the ground produce enough food." Laziness was never God's intention for us. Imagine what things would be like if our Lord Jesus was too lazy to go to the cross for us! We wouldn't have the chance for salvation that He has given us, nor would we have the faith and wisdom to recognize God's will for us to live eternally [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. The very fact that God created our bodies in such a way that exercising them brings strength, exercising our minds by learning brings greater chance of wisdom, and exercising our emotions brings greater chance at balance should tell us His will. We are to work hard, learn well, and experience a range of emotions, all while living "in Christ."
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You today with heads bowed in reverence and hearts open to Your teaching. We desire to faithfully obey You, because no single entity deserves our diligence and worship more than You. You are a generous God, so generous that You will supply our basic needs, encourage us not to be lazy, and gave us Your Son on the cross, so we could be saved from slavery to sin and certain spiritual death. PS 71: 16 -17, "I will come and proclaim Your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim Your righteousness, Yours alone. Since my youth, O God, You have taught me, and to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds." We offer this plea for Your direction. PS 25: 4-5, "Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long." We understand that Your will is for us to provide for our families and not to be lazy. The direction we need from You is Your specific will for each of our lives. We live in a difficult economy right now. Many of us are either under-employed or unemployed. Families have made difficult choices regarding having both parents working full-time, while at the same time raising children. We ask you, Dearest Abba, to teach us what is the difference between wants and needs, so that we can take care of needs and have the choice not to amass mammon for spurious reasons. We ask you to give us good health physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so that we can make choices which give balance and productivity to our lives. We desire to follow Your will for us and to be good stewards of the material wealth we have- good in Your opinion. We learn from LK 17: 21b, "...The Kingdom of God is within you." This matters to us, and we want to make it so. With Your generous help, we believe we can do that. Therefore, we cite PS 31: 5, "I place myself in your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." It is with love and reverence in our hearts that we offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, thanks and praise. In Christ's mighty name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we will look at PR 31: 18, represented by the Hebrew letter, tet. In this verse, we learn that God's ideal person is wise and diligent. As we go through this wonderful description of the ideal person, we can certainly see the Lord Jesus in it. Each of us has been given the clear direction that we are to emulate Him to the best of our ability. Of course, God understands that we will not be perfect; all He wants is for us to be the best that we can be. The leaders of successful companies share this godly expectation for themselves and those working for them. The best parents, the ones who raise children who turn out to be productive, stable adults who love the Lord, are never lazy, always caring, just as the Lord Jesus is. These are the parents who are not afraid to discipline a child involved in misbehavior and who never stand back from offering that same child praise and affirmation when he moves forward in godly maturation. The child of this kind of parents makes a good parent himself. I was once asked what is meant by eternal life. Of course, I described what I know about our going home for a life of blissful eternal fellowship with God in heaven. But, I also mentioned how God has two purposes for our lives. We have an immediate one which has to do with using our God-given talents to do God's work on earth. But I also reiterated that we have a cosmic purpose, the one which comes from being obediently faithful to God and produces godly attitudes, values, etc. which go beyond our own physical lives from generation to generation. My own father, who died very early, taught his children to be self-disciplined, get a good education, and be good to others. I see these same values being lived out by my own son, who never met his grandfather. Think about Abraham. Had he not obeyed God's commands, the Jewish people would not exist, nor would there be a royal line of David, out of which our Lord Jesus would be the "Shoot that will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" [IS 11:1].
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn