Marriage preparation, economic preparation?

"Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house" (Proverbs 24:27).

The Bible tells us that we must prepare the things we must prepare in order to build a house.  In other words, the Bible is telling us to do the economic preparation before marriage in order to make the family (Park Yun-sun).  What would happen to the couple if they did not have economic preparation while they were preparing for their marriage?  Would they be able to have a wedding?  Perhaps even if they have a wedding ceremony, they will continue to struggle with economic problems and will have constant marital conflicts.

In fact, according to the questionnaire survey of 278 married couples in the job portal career, 25.5% of the respondents said that the reason for the couples' fighting was economic problem (internet).  In addition, among 1,053 divorce counselors who visited Korea Family Law Counseling Center in 2005, 1,024 women (1,102 women, 202 males) were separated from their spouses because of economic conflicts, living incompetence and debts.  The economic problem (33%) was the top reason for separation (Internet).  We know all of these facts to a certain extent.  If so, then we must ask the question, ‘How should we have economic preparation for the well-being of our family?’ as Proverbs 24:27 says.  I found the answer in Proverbs 6:7-8: “It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

               Do you know the Aesop’s Fables “The Ant and the Grasshopper”?  In this famous fable, while the ant works very hard in summer, a grasshopper mocks the ant and sings: ‘Hey, ant, you prepare winter in this summer.  Is something wrong with your head?’  Despite such ridicule, the ant kept on working hard for the cold winter even on a hot summer days.  However, the grasshopper was not working every day but was singing.  So when the winter came, the grasshopper had no food to eat, so the grasshopper begged for food.  As we read this fable story in childhood, we learned that we should not be like grasshopper but be like ant.  We learned that we should live diligently like ant and not live lazily like grasshopper.  But now that I'm getting older, thinking about this Aesop fable, I am not only learning the lessons that we should be diligent like ant, but also we should learn the wisdom of preparing for the future ahead of time.  In Proverbs 6: 8, the Bible encourages those who are less than the ant to go to the ant and learn the wisdom of preparing for the future.  This is what Proverbs 30:25 says: “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”  Why do ants prepare winter food in summer?  According to Park Yun-sun, summer is the harvest time in Palestine.  So, at this time, the ants collect what they will eat in the winter.  Like this, the ants prepare food for the winter in harvest time.  Like ants, we must prepare diligently for the future in the time of harvest.

We must do the economic preparation for marriage (Prov. 24:27).  Also, we must learn how to manage the finances wisely with the right biblical finance view.