Get In Order

Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.     Proverbs 24:27 NLT

This is the verse the Lord brought me to as I began this most recent journey into being more intentional about my writing.

This verse speaks to me on so many levels!

I want a house.  A real house.  On a foundation.  No wheels.  It doesn’t need to be fancy – just stationary.  It doesn’t need to be big – I just want enough space for my family to have a nice time together in a space that we can call home.

I’ve cried (whined) to the Lord so many times about this very thing.  I have cried (whined) to my husband about it.  I have pouted my bottom lip like a disappointed toddler who has been denied a toy at the store.

Pretty silly, right?

But no matter how many ways I try to rationalize with myself why I don’t need a house right now, why I shouldn’t want a house right now, how I don’t even know where I would want said house to be, the reality remains the same: I want a house.

Now, I can’t find any scripture that suggests that this is a bad desire. 

So a few months back, we went looking for a house.  We went online, got “pre-qualified” for a loan, got connected with a realtor, and I thought I was actually going to finally get my house!  We found one that we wanted to look at, met the realtor there, toured the home, thought we’d make an offer, and then it turned out that while we were standing outside the house talking with the realtor, the house was sold to someone else. 

Which is just as well, because then we went back to the place that had pre-qualified us, and they decided that we weren’t qualified after all.

Which is just as well, because a couple of months later, things completely fell apart at work and now we are moving to a different area for a new job.

Which just goes to show that often God says “no” because He is protecting us from ourselves.  He knows what we are ready for, and He knows when the timing is not right. 

What this all points to is an “order of operations.”  You may have nightmares about this from middle school math class.  Some sadistic nerds even seem to enjoy torturing others on social media with occasional simple-looking mathematical equations that require using the proper order of operations to reach an accurate solution.  I get sucked in every time!

But there is an order of operations for life that the Lord has laid out for us in the wisdom of scripture.

Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house

First do the hard work.  Then reap the rewards.

What a concept!

I like rewards.  We all like rewards!

The problem that we have is that somewhere along the way, we have forgotten this simple concept from scripture.  We want to get the rewards, but we don’t necessarily want to do the work.  And even if we don’t mind doing the work, we don’t want to do it first.

Enter debt.

Here in America, we have convinced ourselves that debt is just a necessary part of life.

Is it, though?  Debt is all about getting something before doing the work.  It’s buying what we can’t afford.  It’s using services that are unnecessary or poorly timed.  “Buy now, pay later,” is a motto that fuels our self-gratification while leaving us in bondage to creditors.  It stands in direct contradiction to the wisdom of Proverbs 24:27.

The Lord knew that we would be tempted to get the reward without doing the work.  That’s why He gave us specific instructions to the contrary.

Divorce.

Professional “burnout.”

Many of the frustrations we face in life can be traced back to an improper order of operations.

We want a perfect marriage, but we don’t want to put in the time and effort to build a strong relationship.  We get so caught up in looking for the raise and the promotion at work that we fail to develop the skills necessary to succeed and excel.

So, now is as good a time as any to start setting our lives in order.

First we need to do our planning.

Then we must prepare our fields.  Plow the ground.  Plant the seeds.  Water them.  Otherwise, we should not expect a harvest!

When we have planned and prepared, then and only then will we be ready to build the house.

Perhaps someday, I will get to build the actual physical house.  Perhaps not.  Either way, I’ll be ok.  My eternal home is being prepared for me.  Everything else, as they say, is gravy.

Setting our lives in order is not the sort of thing to be saved for the point where we believe we are dying.  It is wisdom from the Lord to produce a good outcome for us while we live.

Do the planning.

Prepare the fields.

Then build the house.

…Just a thought…