Posted on 03/09/2022 9:29:47 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Proverbs 10:3 KJV).
“The LORD will not suffer,” that is the word for “allow,” “the soul of the righteous,” that is the qualification, “to famish.” Now, He might let your body perish, but He won’t let your soul famish.
In the Old Testament, the soul and the body are stuck together, and the saint; if he did right, God took care of his needs. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalms 37:25 KJV). This is an Old Testament promise. A lot of New Testament saints have latched on to it, praying that God will work it out for them as well. This is a general Old Testament truth. “An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy . . .” (Psalms 33:17-18 KJV). Our hope is in the Lord, not in guns, or strength, or personal ability, or brains—our hope is in Him—if things get bad and He doesn’t come through, we are in sad shape. “. . . To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee” (Psalms 33:19-22 KJV).
God will not allow our soul to famish, no matter what our body does. He’ll feed you with the bread of life and the manna from heaven—you can get a Bible just about any time—even in jail.
“The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked,” eventually it will catch up with you. Paul says in I Timothy 6:7 that how you go out will be like how you came in—naked and empty—and probably with no teeth and no hair.
These are general truths. “Slackness” is laziness, or just disregarding responsibility, and generally when a man has duties to perform or a job to do and he deals with a slack hand; that is, his manner of living, a nonchalant come what may attitude, if it happens it happens mentality. That man becomes poor.
“. . . but the hand of the diligent maketh rich,” unfortunately, America has reversed this. We have millions of people on the government take and a guy can be a total slacker and have hundreds of dollars’ worth of food stamps every month. Welfare started out as a good thing to help out a few people that really needed it, in reality, it is now used of Satan to overthrow the principles of God. Do you know what the principles of God are? “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:19 KJV). And welfare negates God’s command in the garden. “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (II Thessalonians 3:10 KJV).
“. . . but the hand of the diligent maketh rich,” well, not so much today. You can work your fingers to the bone working for a company, and if you don’t have seniority, that is, they don’t promote you by your worth—but by your longevity. If you work hard, you only upset the fellows in the union, “Hey! Why you working so hard for?” Anyway, some guy getting food stamps and sitting at home all day is making much more than you can even hope for, since your tax dollars are being drained to feed his lazy carcass.
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Glory to God in the highest! I see this everyday as I am self employed and have a very difficult time finding people that are willing to do the task of roofing. I try to be compassionate yet it usually ends up with me going back over the work (which I find simple) they had supposedly completed. But I am so grateful to have this work available to me so that I may have bread and a beautiful hot shower every morning. It is my experience that IF your aim is true God always puts everything in your grasp to complete the task.
Bump.
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