Proverbs Day 20

Read Proverbs 20

Wise living takes discipline, persistence, and trust. Some are tempted to indulge in extra sleep or to procrastinate. Others are tempted to act impulsively or try to control it all. Wise people take a broader view of life and work steadily toward success.

Pastor Chris' Paraphrase of Proverbs 20:4, 13, 18, and 24

4 Lazy people don’t plan ahead or prepare and they don’t have what they need when the time comes.

13 If you love to sleep, poverty will take over your life. Get up and get to work so you’ll have enough to eat.

18 Get lots of advice while you’re making your plans. Let people guide when you go to battle.

24 Only the Lord knows everything about our journey. We can’t see or understand everything that’s going on.

Don't be lazy. Plan ahead. Seek guidance. Work hard and be persistent. And don't be a control freak. You can have a great deal of influence over your own success, but are never in complete control and you do not know everything that is going on in the grand picture. Trust God.

Prayer

"Lord, help me to be a wise planner and a diligent executor. Most of all, help me to trust You with it all. Amen."

Proverbs Day 6

Read Proverbs 6
Wise living doesn't just happen on its own.  Wisdom takes focus, attention, persistence, and motivation.  You have to chase it!  You need to pray about your decisions and meditate on the possibilities and then work hard to do whatever God guides you to do.  You can't be lazy or careless.  And when you make a mistake, you need a sense of urgency to correct it.  Listen to my paraphrase of Proverbs 6:1-5.

Child, if you've cosigned a loan for your neighbor, or pledged to pay the debt of someone else if they don’t come through, you are in a dangerous and vulnerable position.  Get out of it!  They have your welfare in their hands (and they don't have as much at stake as you).  Rush to them and plead to remove your name from the contract!  Don’t rest until you are safe again!  This is urgent, like a gazelle being chased by a cheetah, like a bird flapping furiously to escape a hunter’s hand.

And also verses 6-11:

Learn a lesson from the ant, lazybones!  You will be wise if you act like him.  Even though he has no leader telling him what to do, the ant works hard all summer and collects food for the winter.  But you just sit there.  How long do you need to sleep, lazybones?  A little more sleep, snoozing a little longer, snuggling up to your pillow, and then poverty steals it all; it’s like you’ve been raided by an armed warrior and have nothing left to your name.

Be responsible for yourself. Get out of debt and stay out. Work hard and be diligent. Resist the urge to slack off. Real peace comes to those who have worked for it.

Pray
"Father, fill us with a sense of urgency to fix our mistakes and to work hard to focus on wise living. Help us to work ahead and not just do the minimum or put things off trying to make it just in the nick of time. Help us to be wise. Amen."