She Considers a Field…

and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard. Proverbs 31: 16

I am intrigued by the title and premise of my blog, She Considers A Field. When my sister-in-law proposed the blog to me, I liked the idea, but I couldn’t find the slant for the first entry… until the Lord started speaking and I could see a common misperception impacting families, as well as singles.

True, the economy is lagging, and challenges abound, gas prices are skyrocketing and food prices are soaring, but the main financial problem is not always a lack of resources. Quite the contrary. It Is often mismanagement of the resources we have. It is how we manage the seeds we have - especially in this season.

The Bible says that God, Who provides seed to the sower, supplies and multiplies the seed that is sown (II Corinthians 9:10). When we consider what we have and manage well what we have, the Lord will help us increase because we are good stewards of our resources.

"God has to be able to trust us with His provision. He will challenge us and how we respond to the challenge can either prosper us or break us. "

The first thing to do is sow the seed, while not wasting the seed. It is a managerial issue. God has to be able to trust us with His provision. He will challenge us and how we respond to the challenge can either prosper us or break us. To know how to manage and take care of what we have is a matter of accountability. If we cannot manage what we have, things will begin to shut down.

I have seen this principle enacted numerous times. Let’s say the anticipated raise didn’t come through or was not as high as we thought it would be. Do we begin spending money we do not have? Are we living right up to the limits of our incomes? Are there cuts we can make to loosen cash flow?

If we take stock of what we actually have and plant in good ground, as well as pray over the seed, God will do what He promised He would do. Sometimes He will even send someone to help us.

We see management of seed in two parables found in Matthew 25, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the ten virgins. In the parable of the ten virgins, five were wise and five were foolish. The five wise managed the oil in their lamps, in anticipation of the bridegroom. When the bridegroom sounded the alarm of His arrival, the foolish servants begged the wise for any extra oil because they had mismanaged the oil they had which ran out before the great arrival. Obviously, they had at one time had enough because they showed up expecting to make the journey. But not so.

In the second parable, beginning at verse fourteen which also describes the Kingdom of Heaven, we find three servants who receive goods/money from their master. Each of the recipients received funds in accordance with their ability to manage them, or as the Bible says, according to ability. Those who were faithful were able to consider their options and managed to multiply what they were given in the first place. The one who mismanaged the given talent, not only hid the one talent received, but was rebuked by the Master. Verse 26 says that at the very least, the servant should have put the money in the bank and gained interest to demonstrate some growth. Sounds much like the gifts God has given to us… but that is to be considered in another blog.

Let’s manage what we have faithfully and responsibly and watch what God will do. Godly actions always bear fruit. We will not only consider the field, but as the scripture says, we can buy it and receive even more from the profits.