The Diligent Prov. 10: 4-5 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

The diligent are not at all like the slackers that we studied yesterday – they’ll work and they’ll finish their work – they won’t slack off just because they are tired – they will stay with it until the job is through.

With diligent hands we find:

• Wealth – v.4 – practically speaking a diligent man will make a good living.  He’ll have enough set by for his retirement; he doesn’t waste it all right now.  And if he’s a saved man and diligent he will use his wealth to take care of God’s business thereby increasing his wealth hereafter [Eph 4:28; 1 Tim 6:17-19].
• Wisdom – v.5 – Practical wisdom.  He knows what to do and how to use his time.  My brother’s hay crop, during the threat of rain, got bailed and put up right as the rain started to fall.  His neighbor left his in the field and lost the hay crop.  There’s an interesting story of the store owner who judged his sales applicants by whether they could sell a pie pan after giving them a bad address where to sell it.
• Authority – Prov 12:24 – You can either take the orders or give them.  If you are diligent you can start out at the bottom taking orders and apply yourself.  In time you will be the boss.  This was the American way.  Now they come out of college and go right into management without learning the business from the ground up.  They hurt the business.
• Contemplation – Prov 21:5 – He will think a thing through before he implements it so that he considers it circumspectly.  In business, he’ll have a well thought out business plan which demonstrates the profitability of his decision before throwing a lot of money at what appears to be a good idea.  A slacker won’t take the necessary time to think it through and his haste will cost him.
• Good Company – Prov 22:29 – The diligent man stands before kings [saved men will be kings and priests in the millennium and when you are diligent in the Lord’s work here you will be among the company of the kings].  Those who are not diligent will stand before mean men.  In business, diligence is what moves you up the ladder of success and gets you promoted [same way in the military].
• Attention – Prov 27:23-24 – The diligent man checks out what he possesses to make sure everything is all right.  He recognizes that he has to pay attention to his business or else he will lose what he has worked so hard to build.  He’ll devise new methods like we did in the cattle business to maintain herd excellence and range management, etc.

Paul’s command 1 Thes 4:11