Practical Advice on Pledges and Work

“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” (Proverbs 6:1-8, NIV) [Read Proverbs 6:1-15].

Sometimes in the course of living we must pay special attention to situations we can bring on ourselves. We can never justify pride, lying, evil schemes against others, false testimony or contracts that seem innocent at the moment we entered into them but may prove extremely burdensome or even wrong and hard to meet. Likewise, there is no excuse for slovenly work or laziness. In areas of making pledges and in productive work, we have responsibilities.

Good business sense is recommended here. The sage advised his son (young student) to get out of bad contracts as quickly as a deer or bird would flee from the hunter or fowler. Such pledges indicate that proper forethought and consideration were not given before the contracts were made. Find an honest way to get out of such contracts. And although not stated, the implication is very strong in this proverb to not let such a pledge happen again. Learn a hard lesson from mistakes. The current economic situation and breach of financial contracts are examples of how persons can get into a bind when situations change. The idea is to use discretion and seek God’s way first before entering into demanding contracts.

There is no place for laziness in the life of a committed person. The industry of the ant colony is used as an object lesson. There is no central management yet the colony thrives and works. The queen’s chief task is to lay eggs for propagation of the species. Some have the task of nest cleaning and maintenance. Those called middens work as garbage collectors. The foragers go out to find necessary food and return and store it for all to share. All have their job and work with a will. Industry and faithfulness are marks of an ant colony’s work. Likewise, the writer of Proverbs advises, our work should be honest and expended well, or “an honest day’s work for a day’s pay.” Sluggard is a strong word—one that we would not want attached in any way to our work habits. A good measure of evaluating our own pledges and work is as “unto the Lord.” He is our ultimate judge and evaluator.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, July 3, 2010