“Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.” Proverbs 24:27
Our universe is running in perfect order. This is evident in how orderly the seasons change. In winter we see all the trees lose their leaves and it snows. Everything is cold and dry and animals are hibernating for the season. Then after four months we can see small leaves and flowers start blossoming on the plants and trees. It gets slightly warmer, the animals get up from their slumber and we can feel life all around us. Then summer comes and it is hot. Different flowers and fruits are produced during this time. Then we see fall come, the animals all start to store food, the leaves start changing color and eventually fall off the trees, the weather changes and it starts to get colder again. Even the time of sunset and sunrise during these seasons change. Everything is in perfect order. All of it is ordained by its creator, the almighty God.
The verse we are studying today is suggesting that there is an order to everything and the importance of following the order. First finish the work outside and get the field ready and then make your house. What does this mean? There is a preferable order. If the order is not followed it can cause chaos. Once you finish your work in the field, you can then start working on your home. You will then also have a profit to invest. If you start working on your own house first while the field is not ready for harvest, you will not be able to focus on either and this could lead to heavy loss. You could end up with an unfinished house and heavy crop losses. We can decide what order we want to do things, but there is a perfect order for everything and its better to follow that order.
There are several things that can take priority in our life. We can live focusing on our own house, and the things which are of immediate importance to us. But as a child of God, is this His expectation of us? When we didn’t know the Lord others toiled and labored so that we could hear the word, know God and be saved from eternal damnation. Now that we are in a safe place, we are responsible (it is our responsibility) for the work that is yet to be finished. The beautiful thing is that you don’t need to work hard for your own house on this earth since the master has said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:1-3).
What a glorious future to look forward to!! When those who worked in the field and were not able to build an earthly home see their beautiful mansion God has prepared for them for eternity all their anxiety will vanish away. We must keep our focus on the work in the field. Let us follow that divine order. As we pray let us ask these questions to ourselves from that beautiful song by CC Luther:
Must I go an empty handed
Must I meet my saviour so?
Not one soul with which to meet him
Must I empty handed go?.(abynewbihar@gmail.com)
