God Gold of the Day

“A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables. The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger.

I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭24:3-5, 30-34‬ ‭

I ran across these verses today in Proverbs. I always here words like “rich” and “poor” in the Word and automatically understand it as we see them, having money or not. Looking around in the chapter more after seeing this story about a lazy person, it’s easier to see that God weighs what’s rich and what’s poor on a whole different scale.

Coming from a person who has a lot of experience in being a little too lazy at times, these verses really helped me see where I’m wrong in the way I live daily and how important it is to stay on the grind. Seeing what my dawg Yoga had to say about it, as much as we complicate it all, it’s really pretty daggum simple. “Do or do not, there is no try.” Those two results of those two decisions, that’s it. You do it or you don’t, you hit the grind or stay lazy, no in between. “Trying” is only something we tell ourselves and others to make us feel better about not doing. It’s so easy to get caught up in life with all the responsibilities we have draining us everyday but no matter how tough or grueling our lives can be we have no excuse to step off the gas pedal. When this picture is painted of what the lazy person’s vineyard looks like, I could really relate. This precious life God gives us to live is not one to be taken lightly because even tho our life doesn’t stop here, there’s so much work to do before we’re there. I especially relate to the part about “a little extra sleep” because if it was up to me I’d always choose that little extra. The problem with being lazy, even though we have a ton of excuses we make as to why we deserve it or need it, our fields become overgrown and out of control. By fields I mean life and by overgrown I’m talking about the decisions, tough circumstances we find ourselves in everyday.

I constantly find myself wondering why I have so many overgrown weeds and thorns in my life, why poverty and scarcity make their homes in many areas of my life? Well when you start adding up all those “little” moments of sleep, laziness, just wasted time, poverty and weeds makes perfect sense. I sit around wanting my situation to be better, wanting to be better, but at the end of the day I’m still sitting and that’s just talk. The craziest part is when you really take some inventory on your days, how you spend your time, how you waste your time, to change how you live your day and spend your time isn’t some big huge leap from where you are to the changed and finished product. To get to that better version of yourself, it’s the little decisions we make everyday and how we decide to make them or focus on what we choose. The problem I’ve had trouble wrapping my mind around is it’s not some big huge change leap all at once, it’s getting up every single day with the focus of, how can I get just 0.01% better today? What little decisions can I make sure to make today so they’ll be easier to make tomorrow and make me stronger in my future? Majority of the time that’s why I’m lazy because having a field that not overgrown with sin and struggle, having better circumstances around me, it seems impossible to change so why try?

That’s the cool part about how God is discussing being rich and poor here. When one is “rich” they are wealthy in God, their relationship with God, knowledge of God, who He is and what He’s capable of, and the wisdom that God gives. Being rich means embracing God’s wisdom, being able to discern where God wants you, what He wants you doing, how to handle certain situations, that’s true Godly Wisdom. Wisdom doesn’t even mean you have to be like Albert Einstein or be able to be smart, it’s just good sense. Having good sense to make those little decisions day in and day out, making more decisions towards seeking God, seeking His wisdom, moving for Him more and being lazy less. Good sense to keep your vineyard of life clean of the weeds and thorns that may hold you up.

I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be rich so bad and not the money kind! The biggest lesson from these verses was the last part of that story. Where it mentions how poverty and scarcity attack you so fast and so hard, think about that.

If you are living your day to day life in that whatever mindset like, well I’ll just talk to God when I feel like it, learn about Him another day, I can make the wrong decision here because it won’t hurt nobody. I’ve noticed when I become lazy in my life, slack on how much I seek the Lord, it’s like the whole world jumps on top of me and starts pounding me from every direction. Before I can do anything, I’ve already been hit so hard that it’ll take a minute to get back on my feet. The crazy part is when the hits start coming, why they are coming and how we handle it is usually a result of our daily grinding, walking with the Lord or just doing whatever. We start letting our guard down saying “it’s no big deal, whatever, I’m just going to do what I feel like for awhile, who cares,” hits are always coming at us but that’s when we open ourselves up to start taking the hits.

And to think at the end of it all, it’s just continually seeking the Lord, focusing in on the daily grind, using the Godly wisdom and good sense He gives you and applying it to even the littlest moments and decisions in your day. You’ll be surprised after making one little decision at a time, not to be lazy but to keep grinding, those little decisions start adding up and you wanna talk about rich!!!! WHOOO!!! You’re going to like Richie Rich in terms of God’s riches!!! Living and embracing the abundance that comes with having the Creator of everything in your life, that’s living in  freedom. Grinding and working for the Kingdom and the King that has given you everything!