The book of Proverbs, in the Bible, has many recommendations for success. We are told to be fair, righteous, just and to seek wise counsel. But there is another character trait we should seek after: diligence.

According to the dictionary, one who is diligent is characterized by steady, earnest and energetic effort. According to the Bible, one who is diligent is characterized by riches, power, wealth, supply and abundance.

Proverbs 10:4 — A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Proverbs 12:24, 27 — The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

Proverbs 13:4 — The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Proverbs 21:5 — The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

So we can conclude that one who is steady, earnest and energetic is one who is richly supplied. Stop being slack, lazy and slothful.

But there is more. When the Hebrew word charuwts is used as an adjective in the book of Proverbs, it is translated as “diligent,” as in bold above. When it is used as a noun in Proverbs, it is poetically translated as “gold,” as in bold below.

Proverbs 3:13-14 — Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.

Proverbs 8:10, 19 — Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

Proverbs 16:16 — How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Therefore, it is good to be diligent, but there is something better than diligence: wisdom and understanding. What does this all mean?

I conclude that it is our duty to be diligent (steady, earnest and energetic) in what we do, but we must also continually focus on acquiring wisdom, instruction and understanding from God. We must balance our leaning on Him — our trust in Him — with our own steady doings.

Tags: diligence, proverbs

This entry was posted by zac on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 12:20 pm and is filed under The Un-Category. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.