Learn a lesson from what we see
[Proverbs 24:27-34]
This world is a world with many things to see and learn. Although we can just pass them thoughtlessly, there are many things in the world that we can learn if we look at them and observe them again at least once. One example is ants. These days, I am at war with ants. Whenever I find ants all over my house, I'm not only catching them and killing them, but also discovering where the ants came in and closing the gaps or holes. But when I think of these “ants,” I think of the words about ants in Proverbs 6:6-11 that we have already meditated on. At that time, we were instructed to think about the lazy person that is worse than the ant, and that the lazy person must go to the ant and see what it does and gain wisdom from it. What wisdom should the lazy man get? The lazy man should learn to work voluntarily, diligently and cooperatively, even without immediate supervision (v. 7). He must also go to the ant and learn to prepare for the future (v. 8). But the lazy man says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” (v. 10). As a result, the inevitable poverty for the lazy man comes. It is a lesson that poverty comes as if the victim is overwhelmed by a robber. In this way, we have something to learn from seeing ants while living in this world. As such, we need to learn as we see and think as we live in this world.
If we look at Proverbs 24:32, the Bible says: “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw.” I would like to learn a lesson by thinking about three things we need to see and be instructed under the heading, “Learn a lesson from what we see”.
First, what we must see and be instructed is that we must prepare ahead of time what we must prepare first
Look at Proverbs 27:27 – “Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.” What do we think we should prepare for when we usually build a house? Perhaps the first thing we need to prepare is economic preparation. If we decide to build the house, we will need to have a good financial budget for building our house. The next thing to prepare is to buy the land for the house. We should choose the best area for our family, clarify the purchase cost and check the site. And after checking the site with the architect and checking the laws and regulations, we have to purchase the site. Next, in order to build the house, we have to carefully select an architect and design the house. Then we have to start construction (Internet). Similar words are found in Luke 14:28-30: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Isn't that right? When we try to build a tower, shouldn't we first calculate the cost to see if we have enough money to complete the tower? If we start construction in a situation where we aren’t ready for economics, we will not be able to build the foundation and complete it because we will run out of money while building the tower. At that time, what would people say when they saw that the construction wasn’t completed but only the foundation work was done? In fact, few years ago, when I first went to a mission field, where a missionary resides, I was a little surprised and puzzled while taking a taxi from the airport to that missionary’s place. At that time, what I saw was many buildings here and there, and a lot of crane standing on top of the buildings around them. It was the first time I saw so many big and unfinished builds in my life. I searched the Internet to see what is the cause, and found that it was suggesting one or two major causes. One is the cause of the economic fluctuations in the real estate market, and the other is the government policy. However, if we look at the specific cause, there are three types, and the first is when the successor fund is not well raised. In other words, it is said that there is a disruption in the development company's investment plan or the bank's support has been stopped (Internet).
In Proverbs 24:27, what the Proverbs writer is saying is that in order to build a house, we must prepare what we need to prepare first. In other words, in order to build a family, we must first have financial preparation (Park). What would happen to the couple if the couple to be married said that they were preparing for marriage and prepared everything, but didn’t properly prepare for the economy? Would they be able to hold their wedding? Perhaps even after the wedding, the couple will continue to have conflicts due to financial problems. In fact, according to a survey on marital quarrels among 278 married workers on the job portal career, the reason for having a marital quarrel was 'economic problems' accounted for the most part with 25.5% (Internet). In addition, among the 3,537 divorce counselors who visited the counseling center in 2005, the Korean Family Law Counseling Center analyzed the current status of 1,304 separated (1,102 women, 202 men). It is said that the economic problem (33%) was the number one reason for separation (Internet). We all know these facts to some extent. If so, we must ask the question: ‘How do we prepare for the economy in order to build a family well according to the words of Proverbs 24:27?’ I looked for 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 fable “The ant and grasshopper”? According to that famous story, the grasshopper sang and mocked the ant which worked hard in the summer: ‘Hey ant, is something wrong with your head? Why are you preparing food in summer for winter?’ Despite such ridicule, the ant worked very hard for cold winters, even in hot summer days. However, the grasshopper didn’t work every day and only sang. As a result, he had no food to eat in the winter so he begged for food. When I read this fable story as a child, I was taught that I should be like the ant, not the grasshopper. I learned that I must live diligently like the ant, not lazy like the grasshopper. However, as I grew older when I thought about this story, not only that I learned the lesson of being diligent like the ant, but also being wise in preparing for the future. When we are young, who cares about the future and prepares for it? In Proverbs 6:8, the Bible urges people who are worse than the ant to go to the ant and learn the wisdom to prepare for the future. Even in Proverbs 30:25, the Bible introduces the ants as “they prepare their food in the summer”. Why do the ants prepare winter food ahead of time in summer? According to Dr. Park, summer is the harvest time in Palestine. So, at this time, the ants are said to collect food for winter (Park). In this way, the ants prepare food for winter in advance at the time of harvest. Like ants, we must prepare diligently for the future during the harvest season.
In particular, what must all of us Christians prepare for? Look at Matthew 24:44 – “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” What we all need to prepare is the Second Coming of Jesus. We must prepare for Jesus' coming again. How should we prepare for His Second Coming? We must prepare for the Lord's Second Coming by knowing the will of the Lord and doing it (Lk. 12:47). So what is the will of the Lord? The Lord's will is for all of us to follow the Lord as His disciples as bear our own cross (14:27). What, then, should the followers of the Lord do first? We must be prepared to make sacrifices for the Lord (Park). That is why Jesus said in Luke 14 the budget for the cost of the tower builder (v. 28) and the preparation for strengthening the military power of the king to war (vv. 31-32). Hopefully, as all of us as disciples of the Lord prepare to make sacrifices for the Lord, at the same time we must prepare for the Lord's Second Coming. In particular, when we all stand before the Lord and when the Lord settle account for all of us, I hope and pray that we will all be well prepared and praised by the Lord (Mt. 25:21).
Second, what we must see and be instructed is that we must not pay back on false evidence.
Look at Proverbs 24:28-29: “Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, or use your lips to deceive. Do not say, "I'll do to him as he has done to me; I'll pay that man back for what he did.” Our instinct is that if the other person slaps us on the cheek, we also slap the other person on the cheek. And we can rationalize what we do to the other person in our instinct by slapping him on his cheek like this: “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exod. 21:23-25). I think this is the Bible passage that helps us rationalize living with the urge to pay back the other person as he did to us. As far as we rationalize, it is our instinct for us to repay the other person if the other person slapped us on the cheek.
The man who tried to act according to human instincts appears in 1 Samuel 25 of the Old Testament. That man is David. David himself tried to avenge a man named Nabal. David wanted to do this because David was very good to Nabal through his young men (v. 15), but Nabal wasn’t good to David, but rather scorned David’s young men (v. 14). While David's young men were with Nabal's shepherds while they were in Carmel, not only did they mistreat them, but none of Nabal's sheep were lost (v. 7). In other words, while the shepherds of Nabal were guarding the sheep of Nabal, David’s young men were a wall around all the time (v. 16), so they weren’t mistreated and nothing was missing (v. 15). So David sent 10 of his young men to Nabal (v. 5) so that they could be favored by Nabal (v. 8). But Nabal said, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse?” (v. 10). He did nothing to David, but rather he hurled insults at David’s young men (v. 14). Therefore, David ordered each of his men to wear a sword, and then took 400 men (v. 13) to Nabal's house to seek revenge on him. But Nabal's wife, Abigail, spoke wisely and acted wisely to prevent David from shedding blood and avenging himself (vv. 26, 31, 33). This is what she said to David: “my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. …” (v. 31) What does it mean? If David personally avenged to Nabal, he could later become king of Israel and take revenge on Nabal, which could be a cause for his conscience. However, because the Lord blocked him through Abagail, the concern was gone. Then David said to Abigail, “May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands” (v. 33). In the end, the Lord kept David from bloodshed and from avenging himself with his own hands through the wise woman Abigail (v. 26). Why did the Lord do that? What was the reason? I looked for the answer in Romans 12:19 – “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” The reason the Lord prevented David from avenging to Nabal was because it is with the Lord’s to avenge his enemy. In other words, because the Lord Himself will repay for David, the Lord prevented David from avenging to Nabal.
If we look at Proverbs 24:29, the Bible says, “Do not say, "I'll do to him as he has done to me; I'll pay that man back for what he did.” What does it mean? It means not to revenge. For example, if I treat the other person nicely and that person insults me, it means that I should not insult him as he did to me. Just because he talks to me in anger, it doesn’t mean that I should do the same to him. In particular, looking at verse 28, we should not testify against our neighbor without cause. We should not deceive our neighbors with our lips. This means that even if the other person lies to us and deceives us, we should not do the same to that person. Of course, the reason we should not do so is not only because the Bible forbids us to revenge ourselves, but also as Christians we should not lie and not deceive our neighbors. If we lie and deceive our neighbors, it pleases the devil, the liar and father of lies (Jn. 8:44). Rather, we must follow the Christian Golden Rule. What is the Golden Rule of Christianity? Look at Matthew 7:12 – “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, ….” This verse is a key principle that clearly teaches how to love our neighbors in fulfilling the commandment of “Love your neighbor as yourself” in Jesus' double commandment (22:39). The principle is, 'As I want to be treated by the other person, I must treat him like that first.' For example, if I want the other person to understand me a little, I have to try to understand that person first. We should change our position and get into the habit of thinking. Then we will be able to treat others as we wish to be treated by them. In particular, we must be true to the other person first, just as we want the other person to be true. We must never tell lies. And we should never give false evidence to our neighbors. May we all be the only true witnesses.
Third and last, what we must see and be instructed is that the lazy man will become poor.
Look at Proverbs 24:30-34: “I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” In the days we're living in, everything is much faster than before. Maybe that’s why we have to do everything quickly and fast. Not only that, but there are many people who are busy with too much to do in their busy lives. However, one question we should ask here is 'Is it really diligent to be busy?' What do you think? Do you think living busy is living diligently? I don’t think that’s the case in my personal opinion. I think living busy doesn't necessarily mean living diligently. Also, I don't think the person is lazy just because he doesn't live busy. Rather, I think that in a very busy life, we have a tendency to procrastinate. I think procrastinating can make us lazy.
In Proverbs 24:30, the Proverbs writer says that he saw as he passed through the field of “the sluggard” and the vineyard of “the man who lacks judgment”. Here the Proverbs writer uses the lazy and the man who lack judgment as synonym. In other words, the lazy man is without wisdom. What is the judgment that the lazy person lacks? I think it's a priority. In other words, the lazy man lacks the ability to judge what to do first and what to do later. For example, Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33). However, at the time of the prophet Haggai, the Israelites were busy building their own houses before God's house (Hak 1:4, 9). They left the temple, the house of God, to be desolate, and they were busy building their own houses splendidly. Their priorities were wrong. As a result, God punished the Israelites. What was that punishment? Look at Haggai 1:6, 9 – “You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. … You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD Almighty. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” What does it mean? God made the crops of the people of Judah a famine (v. 11) and made the harvest little (vv. 6, 9) (Park). In the end, when we don’t seek God's kingdom and God's righteousness first, God makes our finances drought and makes us needy. In other words, if we don’t prioritize right in the sight of God, we will be in need. This lazy man doesn’t have wisdom, he doesn’t do what he should do first, so he becomes poor. Not only that, but the lazy man delays what should be done due to lack of judgment. For example, look at Proverbs 6:10 and 24:33. The Bible says that the lazy man say: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.” The lazy man not only says to “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest”, but he actually sleep a little more and slumber a little more, and lie down. In other words, the lazy man doesn’t wake up when it is time to wake up, but puts it off until later. Also, the lazy man doesn’t work when it is supposed to work, but puts it off later. In doing so, he doesn’t blame his laziness, he blames other things (situations, people, etc.). In other words, the lazy man doesn’t know how to take responsibility. What is the result? Look at Proverbs 6:11 and 24:34 – “and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” What does it mean? It means that the inevitable poverty comes to the lazy man and that poverty comes as if the victim was overwhelmed by a robber (24:33) (MacArthur).
The Bible Proverbs 6:9 gives the lazy man this rebuke: “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?” Also, the Bible Proverbs 21:25 says: “The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.” What does it mean? It means that the lazy people hate to work with their hands. Rather, lazy people often make things happen. Look at 1 Timothy 5:11-13: “As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.” Rather, the lazy young widow goes from house to house, gossips and busybodies, saying things she ought not to. But the lazy man has a more serious problem. That is that the lazy man is wiser in his own eyes (Prov. 26:16). In Proverbs 3:7, the Bible says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” Therefore, the lazy man should not consider himself wise, but fears God, and he turns away from the evil of laziness. And, like ants, he prepares diligently for the future in the harvest season.
We should not like to sleep. We should wake up and work diligently. What is the reason? Look at the hymn “Work, for the Night is Coming”: (1) Work, for the night is coming: Work through the morning hours; Work while the dew is sparkling; Work 'mid springing flowers; Work while the day grows brighter, Under the glowing sun; Work, for the night is coming, When man's work is done. (2) Work, for the night is coming: Work through the sunny noon; Fill brightest hours with labor, Rest comes sure and soon; Give ev'ry flying minute Something to keep in store; Work, for the night is coming, When man works no more. (3) Work, for the night is coming: Under the sunset skies, While their bright tints are glowing, Work, for daylight flies; Work till the last beam fadeth, Fadeth to shine no more; Work, while the night is dark'ning, When man's work is o'er. Like the lyrics of this hymn, the night comes when we cannot work. The day when we cannot work quickly come. Therefore, we must not play when we must work. And we should not like to sleep when we must work diligently. Whether we eat, drink or do anything, I hope and pray that we all become diligent in God's work for the glory of God.
As we live in this world, we must see and think deeply and receive instructions. In Proverbs 24:27-34, we learned three things that we should see and be instructed: (1) We must prepare ahead of time what we must prepare first. (2) We must not pay back on false evidence. (3) The lazy man will become poor. So we must be diligent. I hope and pray that all of us who see and think deeply, humbly receive the instructions from the Lord, and live faithfully according to the instructions received.