Proverbs 4
The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions. (Proverbs 12:27)
Do we prize our possessions? Do we take efforts to preserve the blessings that God gives us? Or do we just fritter it away, not giving adequate importance to it?
We read of such a happening in the Old Testament;
The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction." (
Exodus 24:12)
When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (
Exodus 31:18)
This was so sacred, yet in a moment of rage Moses destroyed them both.
"When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain." (
Exodus 32:19)
He had been in the presence of the Lord 40 days and nights, eating no bread and drinking no water and then had received the stone tablets from the Lord. He had lost something invaluable.Now what was to be done? Perhaps after his anger had subsided, he must have thought about it deeply and prayed to the Lord about it. Later, we read;
At that time the LORD said to me, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest." So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. (
Deuteronomy 10:1-3)
Moses now had to chisel out 2 stone tablets and carry it to the top of the mountain. And God reminded him that he had broken it.
Jesus healed the man who was invalid for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda, but later told him,
"See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (
John 5:14)
Prizing our possessions, keeping the blessings that we receive from the Lord is important. May the Holy Spirit help us in that.