“Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.” Proverbs 24:27 NLT
The lesson is about a farmer, but the principle applies to all income earners. This is a proverb that teaches us a crucial principle of business—first things first.
The immediate application is this. If you buy a fertile piece of ground, you should prepare it, work it, and plant your crop. After that, you should feel free to go ahead and build your house. In other words, the idea is to make the piece of ground productive before you start drawing your new resource down. Grow the celery before you eat the salary.
You might say that this is a lesson in delayed gratification, but also one in setting priorities.
There is a famous book called The Tyranny of the Urgent which identified the tendency to tend to the urgent things in our lives at the expense of the important. How often can some of us say “I was busy all day, but I didn’t get anything done.”
Proverbs 24:27 is a reminder to identify your priorities and do the important things first.
There will be time to enjoy the benefits of hard work and planning, but not if you seek comfort and lesser things first.
This week set your priorities and make plans to do the first things first.
