Proverbs 27:23-27 Be you diligent to know the state of your flocks, and look well to your herds.… It is likely enough that Solomon, oppressed with the burdens and vexations, with the difficulties and dangers, of the throne, looked longingly toward those pastoral scenes which he here describes. But, keen and shrewd man that he was, he must have known that contentment does not always find a home in the homestead, and that there may be as much disquietude of heart in the fields of the beautiful country as there is in the streets of the crowded city. We look for something more than an ordinary "pastoral" in these verses. We recognize in them a royal commendation of diligence. I. THERE IS NEED OF DILIGENCE IN EVERY SPHERE. "Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds." Pastoral prosperity demands the care and the labour of the shepherd or the herdsman, as well as do the transactions of princes and the affairs of state. It will be a poor season and a bad harvest if the farmer is dreaming all day long. It is true that kids and calves and lambs grow up "of themselves," and that "the earth bringeth forth fruit of itself" (Mark 4:28); but it is also true that without watchful care on the shepherd's part the flock will be sickly and small, and that without toil and skill on the part of the farmer the hay crop and the wheat crop will be quite disappointing. And so in everything. Whatever the sphere may be, diligence is the invariable condition of success. The man who will not take pains, who does not work and strive, who does not throw his strength and energy into his occupation, will soon find how great is his mistake. II. DILIGENCE MUST BE CONCENTRATED IF IT IS TO BE REMUNERATIVE. (Ver. 8.) A man that is everywhere but at home, who is interested in everybody's business but his own, who can tell his neighbours how to improve their estate while his own is neglected, who has a hand in a hundred activities, may be exceedingly busy and (in his way) diligent; but he is not a "man of business," and he does not show the diligence which yields a good result. Let a man know "his place" and keep it; and, while selfishness and narrowness of spirit are bad and blameful enough, it is needful for him to give his strength to his own sphere, his forces to his own fields. III. A WISE DILIGENCE WILL BE WELL REWARDED. 1. It will procure domestic comfort (vers. 25-27). 2. It will lead to honour and reputation (Proverbs 22:29). 3. It will invest with power (Proverbs 12:24), 4. It will enrich with various kinds of human wealth (Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 21:5). Patient industry is the source of all the good which beautifies and brightens, which adorns and enlarges, human life. IV. THERE IS A SERIOUS UNCERTAINTY AGAINST WHICH TO PROVIDE. (Ver. 24.) You may be the son of a king, but the crown sometimes changes hands; dynasties are not immortal. You may have a large treasure at command, but the thief; who wears many guises and comes to us in many forms, may steal it away. Better depend on self-reliance than on such props as these; have the diligent hand at your side, and you will be able to defy the chances and the losses that come in the hour and in the way when we look not for them. V. THERE IS ONE SPHERE IN WHICH DILIGENCE IS OF INESTIMABLE VALUE - THE KEEPING OF OUR OWN HEART. With the most devout and the most sedulous care should we "keep" our spiritual nature, for from it flow the streams of life or death (see homily on Proverbs 4:23). - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.WEB: Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds: |
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