Proverbs 27:23-27 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 27:23-27 which read,

v.23, 24 - Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds.  For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.

Every 50 years the land went back to the original owners' family.  Someone could buy the land to use for a certain amount of time but then it reverted back and they were without its resource.  This was not true of their flocks.  Their flocks were their flocks and they would have to look for new land to graze them on.  So Solomon is telling us to make sure we take care of what we have in our possession.  

You could be land poor pretty quickly and the prestige of your family line could go into the tank but if you kept watch over your flock of sheep, they could be what gets you through during financial downturns.  Of course this is a word picture for keeping watch over following the wisdom of God.  We need to pay attention and know well what is stable in our lives.  We have a lot of temporal things that we own but they could be gone like 2008.  What is stable is our relationship with a God who can take us through any hardship of life.

v.25-27 - When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will be for your clothing, and the goats will bring the price of a field, and there will be goats' milk enough for your food, for the food of your household, and sustenance for your maidens.

So the shepherd has lost his fields to graze his sheep and goats.  It has disappeared but he sees new fields coming up with new grass.  He gathers herbs from the mountains to sell.  He has lambs as a resource to use for clothing.  His goats can be sold for a new field to use.  The goats' milk is food for himself, his family, and those he cares for until they are married.  Taking care of the herd is very important.  His families well-being is tied to them and so a good shepherd can provide for his family when times are tough because he has tended well to his flocks.

We are the shepherds in this word picture and the sheep and goats is our walk with God.  When we are attentive to following after God it allows us to see where He wants us to go next.  He helps us to use this wisdom in a way to provide for ourselves, our families, and those who we are caring for.  His wisdom is the new growth seen.  His wisdom is the herbs of the mountains to gather in.  His wisdom is the resource of lambs for clothing.  His wisdom is the resource of the goat for a new field.  His wisdom is the goats' milk to be used to carry you through until other food is available.  

We tend to treat God's wisdom very differently than what is given here.  We go to it when we have a problem but we don't have it secure before we have the problem.  We haven't been keeping attention to it so that when something comes up we are scrambling to know what to do because we aren't already doing it.  For many, their spiritual flocks and herds have been neglected for other things.  Trust has been put in the temporal and not the eternal.  When something happens that calls for a very strong spiritual one following after God consistently, one cannot be found.  The family suffers because those responsible for the family have fallen asleep in regards to their spiritual lives.  How are your flocks and herds?  How is your attention to God's wisdom?  Let us pray.

"Father God, we have seen our temporal world fall apart all around us and sometimes we have fallen with it because we have not secured that wisdom that You have given us.  Forgive us for not tending well to what You have said.  May we see how important it is to us and those You have put around us.  May Your wisdom be our sustainer through the tough times.  Amen."

Pastor Adam