Proverbs 6:1-19
1. Do not use words to replace steady action and hard work.
2. Do not by your words commit yourself to someone else’s debt.
The connection of words and work seems to be the turning point: in the first section, words, debt, and money seem to be a way of “advancing” without actual progress in work. We are all familiar with the way these promises, and “empty gains” can strain relationships. The advice is first to clean up the words, then to get to work!
3. Commit yourself to truth with your words.
To listen to the advice, the man or woman indebted by words must also believe that those words can only honestly be removed by agreement and that the pain of personal debts will occur in this case too, without exception.
4. Work will answer many problems that words cannot.
What must we notice in creation and apply to our work?
a. Work “independently” (without “having to be told”).
b. Work with the limits of time in mind.
c. Work with the opportunities of seasons in mind.
d. Work with the temptation of sleep in mind.
We must recognize that we have both a limited capacity for work and so need rest, as well as a limited need for rest and so must work.
5. Live by the ‘Fear of the Lord’.
The one described in this section as worthless and wicked is trying to live off perceptions in the world and in the community created only by a wink and a nod, rather than by letting deeds speak for themselves.
The Fear of the Lord
When you use your eyes, is it for the sake of comparisons that build you up?
When you use your tongue, is it for the sake of stories that speak well of you?
When you use your hands, does it give life and resources to the innocent?
When you use your heart, what plans does it love?
When you use your feet, what script does it act out?
When you use your testimony, is it true no matter the consequence?
When you use your influence, does it create harmony for others?
