27 Prepare your work outside
And make it ready for yourself in the field;
Afterwards, then, build your house.28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
And do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me;
I will [m]render to the man according to his work.”30 I passed by the field of the sluggard
And by the vineyard of the man lacking [n]sense,
31 And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles;
Its surface was covered with [o]nettles,
And its stone wall was broken down.
32 When I saw, I [p]reflected upon it;
I looked, and received instruction.
33 “A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,”
34 Then your poverty will come as [q]a robber
And your want like [r]an armed man.
This passage is a lesson in priorities, which should have been obvious from the start, but it took me way too long to see the connections. But now we’re here, let’s uncover the links throughout. As I said the first couple verses seem pretty obvious. If you try to build a house and neglect your fields (or your living), you might have a nice place to live, but you’ll be starving come harvest time.
In our society, we often put so much focus on building or buying a home that we end up spending the rest of our lives in debt to it. Like Solomon suggests, it would be much better for us to get our career (well) underway first. Then, we will not only be better prepared to purchase a house, with less (or no) debt, but we’ll make better decisions as well. Having rented for a few years, we’ll know better what we want in a house, and also what to watch out for.
Alright, so much for the obvious stuff, what about the next couple verses (28 & 29)? Why would one testify falsely against your neighbor? To gain an advantage, or to benefit from their misfortune are two possibilities. And in both, we have our priorities out of line. We’re trying to get ahead through dishonest dealings, rather than the natural way, which is by building relationships.
Likewise in v. 28, the implication is that we’re trying to short someone on what they deserve for their hard work. We’re just paying them the bare minimum, no profit at all, which is just plain foolish. They’ll never do another job for you, and you’re once again putting short term gain over long term relationship building. Instead, be generous in your dealings. That doesn’t always mean blindly paying the asking price, but it does mean finding a deal where both parties feel like they won–yes, that is possible.
Finally we come once more to the sluggard, whose broken priorities are on full display. They’d rather rest or sleep than work, and their vineyard makes that very plain. Most of us would think ourselves far above that, but we may go too far the other direction. Do we work so hard at our jobs that we neglect our yard, or our house? Do we leave messes because, “I’m too busy to bother with housework…”
As with most things, there is a balance, and if we neglect something as simple as keeping our house tidy, or making repairs to our house, what else are we neglecting? Take a look around today, and right your ship. Are you leaning to port, or listing to starboard? Ask God to examine your heart and make the adjustments to get your life back in balance, and keep Him at the center of it all.