Taking Care of Business

Proverbs 24:27 says: Prepare your outside work, and get things ready for yourself on the land; after that, build your house.

Proverbs 27:23-27 says: Take care to know the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds. For wealth doesn't last forever, neither does a crown through all the generations. When the hay has been mown, and the new grass appears, and the mountain greens have been gathered; the lambs will provide your clothing, the goats will sell for enough to buy a field, and there will be enough goat's milk to buy food for you and your household and maintenance for your servant-girls.

I ran across these in my morning reading and I love them. We need to take care of the business that provides the necessities in life to care for our households and families. The verse in Proverbs 24 instructs us to lay the foundation of necessities before conveniences. Without the land prepared for either crops or flocks, neither food nor wool for clothing will be forthcoming to sustain us. Authored by a resident of the Middle East, the need to prepare pastures for sheep and goats was imperative and never taken for granted. Dry, arid land required a lot of work to produce grains and vegetables. As a south Texas backyard gardener, I shudder to think of the labor involved in that endeavor compared to the work required for my tiny veggie garden. Yet, without a sustained focus on the preparation and maintenance, food and clothing became scarce.

The building of the home, considered a convenience over the land and livestock, was not a priority; living in tents a common practice. There would be no need to build a house if your land was not sufficient to provide for your family, you would not be staying in any one location if you did not adequately prepare your land.

While most of us do not have herds of goats and sheep, our employment stands in their stead. The other day I wrote about our needs conflicting with our wants. I believe these scripture make plain the order in which our priorities should fall. We need provisions and then shelter; taking care of business first provides both.

The days of family businesses passed from one generation to the next, training up the youth as they go, may be behind us for the most part. The industrial revolution saw to that when it pulled people off the farms, ranches, and small family run businesses to fill positions on assembly lines. Seeking more money, excitement and different opportunities, young men and women left in droves; leaving behind the lessons and work ethics required to maintain the family independently. I can't help but think this was a booster shot in the arm of seeking Want over Need; a mentality was birthed, an ever increasing thirst to satisfy personal desire over necessity.What do I want to do replaced what do I need to do.

Verse 24 of Proverbs 27 says: "For wealth doesn't last forever, neither does a crown through all the generations." This speaks to the lack of security in depending on money and governments. Throughout the Biblical days and into current world events this bears out. Our only real security comes from the knowledge and love of Christ who redeemed us for all eternity. Any other source is subject to burn away like hay.

Instruction to focus on necessity over convenience is in scripture for a reason, it behooves us to pay attention to biblical priorities. A regular review of our thoughts and practices may help us stay on track. Deviating from a scriptural set of priorities can lead us into a spiritual desert though we think ourselves immune to such. Consider the Hebrew people in the desert as they waited impatiently for Moses to return from his divine appointment with God. They started out seeking God's guidance and ended up dancing around the golden calf of Want over Need. Take care of the business of necessity; the Bible says so.