“Attitudes that bring success” Part II (Proverbs 12)

“He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread:” Life is a balance, especially seen through the teachings of scripture. Working to meet ones needs is  commended in scripture, verses those who are not willing to work for themselves or their families. Yet not just our needs but the scriptures speak of giving to those in need as well, but what defines “in need.” It refers to those who are working but come up short ( single moms), or were working but because of an injury can no longer work or the aged are some examples. This is different from able bodied individuals who are unwilling to met their own needs but rely on others – hand outs, government aid etc. To some extent our welfare system fosters irresponsibility  by giving money to these individuals. When people go without they become willing and/or creative about making money which inturn builds self respect. We have taken that away. The difficulty is when children are involved, which in most cases they are. It’s a tight rope, a balance between caring for the children and enabling those who should have the care of the children to continue being irresponsible. However I still believe there is a better way than just handing out money. To throw money at a problem in hopes that it goes away does not work, the problem is deeper than that.

Someone “that tilleth his land shall be satisfied.” Satisfied ” Sabea” has multiple meanings. It refers to one’s labor and or efforts but it goes beyond just being full. It also means being content with life, having seen God provide through your efforts. It means a person who is happy with themselves because they are doing what is right by working and providing for their family. It’s impossible to be content with life if you are not first content with yourself. Sabea means this, right with God and “tilling my land.” Sabea is a good word, a healthy word, both physically, and emotionally but all that is taken away when people are given “crutches instead of shovels.” They will never be satisfied as long as they are takers and not givers. However on the other side there are those who are driven and work too much. Most of us work long hours and hence it is easy to have our identity wrapped up in our jobs. However our identity and self esteem needs to come from our relationship with the Lord, not work. Here’s a saying, ” do we work to live or do we live for work?And even if we are not working long hours but we live for work, our identity is still misplaced. The  sum total of who we are exceeds what we do at work or anything else for that matter. To truly be satisfied, this balance must be maintained.    Without this balance we burn out.

but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding(vs.11). Reyq is the Hebrew for vain. It has several meanings, worthless, a pitcher that’s empty or a person whose worthless, or an object with no content, evacuated. What comes to mind is a period of time in my life when I just was not making enough money to make ends meet. I was working three jobs, my regular wholesale nursery job, in the evenings I made an attempt to sell water purifiers and on Saturdays I helped mow and blow about eight Carl’s Juniors. It made for a long day. This was a super hard time in my life, I hardly got to see the girls. Often times being in bed by the time I got home from mowing or selling water filters. I learned through the coarse of these months that selling the water purifiers was a pyrimaid set up based on much hype and delevoping what was termed as a “down line.” People that you enlisted that purchased the product to sell. There was really no sales going on just people getting hyped up and buying minimum orders. The guy I was helping mow the Carl’s Juniors was one of the few that actually sold something. This get “rich scheme” quickly became a vain per suit to me and once I felt that I felt free to leave it. I owed my family my best effort but this was energy and time wasted. I was so happy to be home in the evenings again. The term ” evacuated” or I like the term a “black hole” was how I began to relate to all the pyrimaid schemes that have since come my way.

This verse became my compass. Whatever my future job would be I was going to work for it, and maintain a work ethic that was readily know by my actions and speech. I had requested my two weeks vacation and knowing that the owner and I were not getting along I sought to start my own maintenance business. By the time the two weeks were over all I had was a lot of frustration. Not having experience in  marketing, I didn’t know how to. However I was determined to not move the family  a fourth time pursuing the next promotion by interviewing at different wholesale nurseries. My first day back from my vacation my boss called me in and fired me. At the time the girls were six and eight. I remember it as if it was yesterday, though it was May of 1989. As I walked to my truck the Lord began speaking to me using the scriptures, which He often does. He quoted Abigail as she spoke to King David, “…but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God;” (1Samuel 25:29) basically how the Lord had David in the palm of His hand, He had me. I was scared but I knew God was in this.

After living on the credit card for three months I landed my first commercial maintenance job. It replaced my salary dollar for dollar. It took me three days to cover the grounds and on the other two days I sought to get more contracts. I found my Christian principles in business as giving me preference over other contractors, in that my clients sensed my honesty and could believe my words. Bible studies during my lunch half hour had been a habit for years and now I found them even more critical, feeding my body and soul at the same time. It was exceedingly hard work, working harder than I thought I ever could, but the company grew. God was the owner and I was his assistant and since then till now that has not changed.

Satisfied in the true Biblical sense has God in the middle of it. However I know several clients, not believers but are really good guys who emit a sense of being satisfied with their life. They have worked hard and are now reaping the benefits. Being good husbands and dads their actions reward them and there is satisfaction in that. I love these guys, but I challenge them to go deeper, to not stay docked at the port they built for themselves but loose the ropes and be willing to trust God to give them a life that is fuller and more meaningful. To be willing to explore the ocean of faith. We will fine that our safe predictable docks are quite restrictive and lacking the fullness of life that only a life of faith will experience. Life with God is bigger, it’s more riskier, but when God is at the helm it’s a satisfaction that way exceeds that of mans.

Father God,

 We live in a world that seeks to redefine all that You say. Instead of finding our true identity in just You, it says we need money, wealth, fame, a great job and so on. Money is nice to have but it won’t make us better people, oftentimes we are worse because of it. To live for fame may be a cover up for low self esteem and a great job if it comes through honesty and hard work is probably the only thing you would agree with. However if it becomes a stumbling  block from knowing You, then it has become a dangerous distraction. Give us wisdom to not be so foolish as to live for this world. For your faithfulness exceeds this world and  knows no boundaries. Thank you and Amen.