He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. – Proverbs 10:5

Today's Scripture Reading (November 7, 2022): Proverbs 10

For over a decade, I lived in farming and ranching country, and every fall, I would see the harvesters out in the fields, often doing their job late into the night with lights blazing on the tops of their cabs, helping them to see in the darkness of the night. If you are a farmer, you know the truth of Ecclesiastes's statement that there is a time for everything. Farming is always hard work, but it is also work no one will tell you to do. You must plant in the proper season set aside for that task. You have to be caretakers of the crop after the planting is completed, and many maintenance tasks must be performed in the season before the harvest.

The crop must be harvested when the time is right, and the harvest is ripe. But harvest time is a narrow window of opportunity. The crop has to be ready to be harvested, but then the crop must be brought in before the weather takes its toll and makes it worthless. There is little room for whim at harvest time. It doesn't matter what else you might have planned to do or what you feel like doing. Everything has to be placed aside until the harvest is completed.

Solomon says that the one who gathers in the harvest at the appropriate time is prudent. He is doing the practical thing and understands what needs to be done. But the son that sleeps through harvest or sets to doing a different task when the crop needs to be brought in is disgraceful. He should know better, but he doesn't.

I no longer live in a farming community and don't have many farmers around me. But that does not mean that Solomon's message is wasted on us. We all have things that need to be done during the appropriate season. Sometimes procrastination in our lives is harmless. But if we want to be remembered as prudent or practical people, we must recognize the times when we must work on the appropriate tasks.

The author of Chronicles remembers the people of Issachar as being this kind of people. Chronicles argues that the tribe of Issachar was made up of "men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). They both understood what it was that was demanded from them by the culture at that time, and they understood the tasks that needed to be given attention at the appropriate time. And that is the kind of people we should all aspire to be.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Proverbs 11