‘God Blesses Hard Work’

Ecclesiastes 11:4 If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. 6 Be sure to stay busy and plant a variety of crops, for you never know which will grow — perhaps they all will.

It was Martin Luther of the 16th century, who said – “He who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything.”

Jesus once told a story about a landowner, who before leaving on a trip, called his servants and entrusted each with a portion of his estate. After returning from his trip, the man called for his servants and required each to give an account of what they had done. It was discovered that two of the servants had taken what was given them and doubled it! Yet the third could not report such success. When the man asked for an explanation, the servant replied – “I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.” (Mt 25:25)

‘Better to be safe than sorry’ the servant thought. Yet that is not how the landowner viewed his servant’s actions. “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant!’ ” (Mt 25:26)

The King James Version uses the word ‘slothful’ to describe the servant. The word slothful means hesitant. No doubt there were times when the servant felt led to take his master’s money and do something productive with it. Yet the fear of failure held him back and as a result he not only accomplished nothing, he was also severely rebuked.

So often we blame God whenever we do not see the success in our lives that we see in others. Yet the truth is, our failures have more to do with our fears than with God’s partiality. Solomon said – “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”

#TerryCovey #bible #devotion #God