PLOWING IN THE WINTER
Proverbs 20:4 NKJV
4 The lazy man will not plow because of winter;
He will beg during harvest and have nothing.
This may be another of those clickbait titles that make you go, what? But there is a method to the madness. This is one of those proverbs filled with practical wisdom.
The lazy person will not plow because of winter. Written during a time period when many people were associated with agriculture, this makes perfect sense. In our day, when we have moved away from the family farm business model, an explanation is often necessary.
During the winter season, the land had to be plowed and prepared for the planting. Plowing was difficult work. If you were well off, you plowed with an ox or a couple of oxen. Still a difficult task walking behind the oxen with a plow digging through hard soil. If you were not as financially strong, you plowed by yourself, which made the task even more difficult. But if you farmed for a living it was one of the things that simply had to be done.
The lazy person would not plow because it was too cold, or the ground was too hard. Winter made plowing more difficult and uncomfortable. And because the lazy man did not plow, the land was not prepped for the planting, and there was no harvest. Now, the lazy man would be forced to beg for food. He had nothing to live on.
APPLICATION
Most of us today are not farming. I have nothing but respect for those who farm. It’s challenging work. But the majority of people listening to or reading this devotional are not having to plow in the winter in order to have a harvest to feed their families.
But all of us have things to do that are not easy and/or comfortable. The big takeaway from this proverb is, do not avoid the necessary requirements in life even though they may be difficult or uncomfortable. Going to work when you don’t feel like it. Studying for the test. Practicing the skills you are deficient in. Reading your Bible. Whoa, I slipped that one in on you. But we also have to apply this proverb to our spiritual lives. If we only do what is easy, we won’t do much. If we only do what we feel like doing, we won’t have much of a harvest.
So, the key question we must ask ourselves is what must I do to move forward? Not how do I feel about it? Life is not easy. All of us have to plow in the winter.
PRAYER
Lord, show me any area that I have avoided because I did not feel like it or found it difficult. I want the harvest in my life to be abundant.