“Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.” Proverbs 14: 4
What do you think Solomon is trying to tell us in this verse?
When a farmer has no oxen, the stable will be clean BUT he won’t be able to make a living. The only way to live problem free is to become a hermit, and isolate yourself from interactions with people. But frankly, life is useless without having other people around. Same thing if you live only for yourself. So is your life clean but empty? Or does it give evidence of serving God, and letting His light; His love and grace be emulated in you and from you? Do other people notice something different about you, and want what you have?
“A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding.” Proverbs 14: 6
We all know mockers, people who scoff at every word of instruction or advice…especially making fun of or not taking God’s Word seriously. They will never find true wisdom if they are always looking at everything other than what’s in the Bible. My Bible says wisdom comes to those who apply God’s Word to their lives and seek godly council. So if the wisdom you need doesn’t come easily to you… maybe, just maybe your attitude is the barrier. Please understand that I am not saying because we faithfully apply God’s Word, we will automatically have the solution to whatever it is that we need answers about. Gaining Wisdom means taking God’s Word to heart, and obeying Him – it could mean just “to wait on the Lord.” Let’s look in the book of Job. In Job 28: 12-13, Job asks…
“But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.”
It’s natural for people who do not understand the importance of God’s Word to seek wisdom here on earth. Some look to philosophers and other leaders to give them direction for their life. I know all about searching the medical community for answers. The world had no answers to help me. Repeatedly I hear that there is no cure for my Muscular Dystrophy. No magic pill. No hope. The best they can do is to manage my symptoms. They’re wrong, because I know the Great Physician personally! I know that the ultimate interpretation of life, of who we are and where we are going, comes from outside and above our mortal lives. To be lifted above and beyond the boundaries of life, we must know and trust the Lord of Life… that is where true wisdom is found.
I love this verse…”There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14: 12
The “path that seems right” may offer many options and require few sacrifices. Easy choices, however, should make us take a second look. Is this solution attractive because it allows me to be lazy? because it doesn’t ask me to change my life-style? because it requires no moral restraints? The right choice often requires hard work and self-sacrifice. Don’t be enticed by apparent shortcuts or taking easy ways out that seem right but end in death.