Proverbs 24:27
Establish your work outside and get your fields ready;
afterward build your house.
Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your words.
We’ve gotten a little backwards and upside down in today’s culture. We want the stuff first, and then to pay for it later. In fact, you could even say we think we deserve the stuff first, even before we have the money to warrant having the stuff.
But here we see that it’s actually the other way around. We’re supposed to do the work to get the fields ready so that we can get food on the table. Then we build the house.We’re supposed to make sure the most important and basic needs come first. Then we take care of the others.
Of course, housing is a pretty big need. So, it’s high on the priority list. But, it’s not as high as food. If you don’t eat, you don’t live. At least not for long. Food is a higher priority than a roof.
Also, their crops would have also been their source of income. They would have sold their crop to get money or traded their crop for other goods and services they needed. If you don’t do the work in the fields to get the field and crops ready, you’ll never have a harvest. You’ll never have any evidence that you’re going to have anything worth anything to be able to build a house.
So, don’t be obsessed with getting the house built when you don’t have the money to build it. A house is a good thing, but it’s not good if it destroys you. And many a family has been destroyed by trying to buy a house when they shouldn’t have.
It doesn’t just go for houses though. It goes for anything you don’t have the money for. Don’t let your priority be keeping up with other people. Let your priority be what’s best for you and your family.
It’s all about priorities. Do you have your priorities in order?
