Home Work

Prepare your work outside and make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterwards, then, build your house. (Proverbs 24:27)

Why would you tend to the field and then build the house?  We usually see people in our day build the house…then tend to the exterior. In the age and culture of subdivisions, the landscaping is the last thing to be done. But here's the point…this wise counsel wasn’t written in our time. And we aren’t talking about landscaping. We are talking about living. In the biblical culture a man would prepare the field…then build the house. The field was his livelihood. This is our wise word for today. The one who wants to build his house must be established in his “field” or the way he makes his living. Imagine someone building a house without knowing how to pay for the building. But today some do this very thing. And if things don’t work out, they move easily enough. But the ancient man would work in the field, shaping the ground, plowing and planting. And the very stones removed from the field could build the house.  The wisdom of working the field first was to make sure the field would produce and he wouldn’t be stuck with a built house and a barren field. Perhaps we should spend some time preparing a lifestyle before we establish a house, or more properly a home. A wise man’s home is not filled with foolishness. Stable lives generally lead to established homes.  They fit very well together.