Posted on 02/21/2020 6:32:57 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up” (Proverbs 21:20).
The principle here is being prepared for a rainy day and putting a little bit aside. Treasure to be desired are the things you need, and oil speaks of light and heat. Life is pretty miserable when these things are lacking. A foolish man is not a good steward of his money, and spends it as fast as he makes it, never considering that one day he might be out of work for a spell, due to layoffs or sickness. Now, we realize that this verse is for the most part written to a nation where there was no welfare or assistance checks, and if they had nothing they did without. In America, we have unemployment insurance (assuming the worker didn’t get fired) and welfare checks. What are people going to do when the welfare system does eventually collapse under its own weight?
The foolish man in the New Testament is found in Luke 15 where the Prodigal son took his inheritance and wasted it on riotous living until he found himself sleeping with the hogs and eating whatever food he could before they got it.
You and I, we are told in the Bible, “Lay up treasures in heaven.” We are told to set our affections on things in heaven. If a person is wise in the Lord, then he will be filled with oil—oil in the New Testament pictures a man being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and He is our Teacher of spiritual truths. When a man is filled by the Holy Spirit, he does not need Greek lexicons and Bible commentaries to understand His Bible—the Holy Spirit will illuminate his understanding as the Scripture interprets Scripture.
“There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise.” The wise man seeks the filling of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit follows, and does the things that leads to good results.
The foolish man blows it all on today. Some people just do not have an eye for tomorrow: “And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die” (Isaiah 22:13). They take no thought for eternity either. They just live their lives until the last and make no provision for what happens after they die.
Children are like that. Tomorrow never comes. They are only concerned about the here and now. Now, we can understand that in a child, but it should not be the way of an adult. He should be taught in his childhood the necessity of laying something back for a future time. He should be taught that discipline. Very few people saved money today as they ought to.
Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.
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For all you Auburn and Georgia Tech graduates oil was wealth during biblical times.
Sunday School fun, love yall.
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