Here is a nice Proverb of Power that I have been chewing on lately.

Proverbs 24:30-34 has a great principle for us concerning what happens when someone gets lazy and distracted from giving the proper care for their fields. I think this idea of a “field” or “vineyard” can be applied to any area of our life; work, family, soul care…the list goes on.

This principle here is a very important one indeed…but that isn’t what I have been chewing on.
I have been chewing on how this principle became a principle. Let me explain.

Solomon tells us that he passed by the “field of a sluggard” and the “vineyard of a man lacking sense”. We don’t know where he was going; we just know that he wasn’t going to this field and vineyard. We know that because he passed by it.
As Solomon passed by it, he tells us that the field was overgrown with thorns and covered with nettles and wall of the vineyard was broken down.

At this point, I think we see insight into what made Solomon such a wise man. He could have continued right along on his journey not giving this neglected field a second thought. But he didn’t do that.

Proverbs 24:32 says the following:
“Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.”
Verses 33-34 record the insight that Solomon gained as he saw, considered and was willing to receive instruction from this neglected field.

I think that this is what separates the wise from the unwise.
The wise take the time to stop and think on what they see…
and in humility, they receive instruction from what they have seen.
In other words, as the wise pass by life…they don’t let it pass by. They learn from it.

Marriage, work, parenting, soul care…there are positive and negative examples all around us. Let’s be like Solomon; stop, consider and receive.