Today, I look back at my life and career choices that cost me dearly because I never understood the the power of Proverbs 12:11.
When I started out in my career as a software developer, I took an entry-level salary. This certainly helped pay the rent and put food on the table. I quickly progressed to a more senior role in a different company. Further promotions led to a directorship at a newly-formed company, owned by my existing employer.
I built the company up from a single employee (me) to a $1,000,000/year turnover with a team of developers and contractors managing the company’s growing client base… in return for which, I earned a $60,000/year salary. Sadly, when I resigned from that company, it was unable to continue in that vein. After I left, its income dropped, the developers I had trained and mentored moved on to other opportunities, and the company eventually closed its doors.
Some may look at the numbers above and consider my remuneration as unfair. I do not. I agreed a salary with my employers and they paid me the agreed wages every month. In the early days, they paid me what was legally owed, whether the company made any money or not, and they increased my salary as revenues grew. In other words, the business owners took the risks in the early stages and reaped their reward down the line, as annual turnover began to increase.
This is where the power of Proverbs 12:11 comes into play.
Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:11
The Power of Proverbs 12:11
Looking back, I now realize that I was not working my own land back then; I was working someone else’s land! The business owners were the ones who had abundant food. So, was I chasing fantasies instead? Well, I certainly wasn’t chasing after any get-rich-quick schemes. Nor was I wasting my money on lottery tickets or the latest Bitcoin fad.
The only ‘fantasy’ I clung to was job security. I built up and managed a $1,000,000 turnover business. However, I would never have dared try to do this for myself back then. I was far more content with my $60,000 salary and would never have dared risk losing that income for the potential profits that I was already generating for the very business in which I worked. For me, job security at $60,000/year was worth more than all the profits I was personally generating for that company.
However, the sad truth is this; if that company had failed, those same business owners would probably have made me redundant in a heartbeat and paid me a a tiny severance package that might cover three months’ salary, if I was lucky. I have seen this happen to countless peers and colleagues over the years. In that sense, job security is a fantasy that I chased, like so many of my peers.
Looking back, I now realize, I traded my financial freedom for a $60,000/year paycheck and the illusion of job security.
Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:11
For the past few years, I have been working my land as it were, and following the advice in this proverb. My ‘land’, in this context, is a growing rental property portfolio.
Currently comprised of three properties, this rental portfolio produces a small income over and above the income from my job. This has allowed me to give additional funds to support missionaries beyond my local church to ensure sustainable giving over time.
Having saved enough money to acquire a further two properties, and increase my portfolio to five, I cast my eye about for a new opportunity. However, the UK property market is on the rise and good investments have become harder to find.
Then an exciting opportunity presented. A block of flats with twenty-four apartments. Price tag? Five million dollars. My creative juices started flowing. I considered the possibility of Mezzanine finance — a second charge over the property — at a higher interest rate. This would raise my total funding to 90% of the purchase price. What if I could find private investors, and raise the remaining funds for this deposit?
My heart beat faster. I could increase my investment portfolio by orders of magnitude! My portfolio would leap from three to nearly thirty apartments in a single deal! How awesome would that be?
Then I remembered Proverbs 12:11 — but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
This may look like a fantastic opportunity. However, the reality is this; I don’t have the financial capacity to weather the storms I might encounter on an investment of this magnitude. What if I struggle to find tenants for these twenty-four apartments, even for a few short months? How would I cover the resulting expense out of my current portfolio of three properties? What if the building needs unexpected maintenance? Or what if the government passes their planned bill to make rental properties more eco-friendly?
The truth is, a single leap of such proportions is simply too big — and too risky. It is a fantasy. I might even find private investors to fund the deal but I know, in my heart, that I would be putting their money at undue risk. I would have a duty of care to any investors and I have not been doing this long enough to take on a block of that size.
Best-case scenario? At this point in my journey, such an investment opportunity might all come to nothing and simply waste a lot of my time and energy. I might find that I have spent weeks, or even months, talking to agents and finance brokers, preparing business plans and investment memorandums, meeting with potential investors and selling them on the concept — all very exciting — only to find that all my efforts come to naught.
For a start, any savvy investor would look at my current portfolio of three properties and ask the hard question. How will you keep my money safe in the event of any unexpected setbacks on such a big investment?
The truthful answer would be, ‘I can’t’
Worst-case scenario? Utter ruin and bankruptcy.
The biggest challenge is in the numbers. To jump from a portfolio of three to nearly thirty in a single leap is tantamount to building a skyscraper on a foundation of Lego blocks. With an inadequate foundation, every tiny gust of wind would strain the foundation to breaking-point. Even the smallest financial setback could bring the entire edifice crashing down. Those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Work Your Land
So what is the alternative? Work your land! Those who work their land will have abundant food
I’m not saying that we should never aspire to greatness in any shape or form. I may yet purchase this type of investment at some point in my journey. However, the right way to achieve that goal is to work my land. In other words, rather than chase after a fantasy, I should work on growing the portfolio of three properties I have right now. And, if I work my land, I might increase three properties to five over the next year or two — God-willing. Then, I can work on increasing my portfolio from five properties to ten. This may take a few more years. After that, I might spend another year or two — even three — building the portfolio from ten to twenty. Only then will I be in a position to realistically consider an investment of this size.
In all honesty, even a plan that aims to double my portfolio size every two years is fairly ambitious. But it is far more realistic than attempting to increase it by a factor of ten in a single transaction.
As I readjusted my goals and timelines, around a work your land mindset, God reminded me why I started building this portfolio. It is to serve His kingdom and purposes; not my own ambitions. It is to create an income stream that can fund missions and cover my salary in part or in full, so freeing me up to work as a Tent-Maker in God’s kingdom. And God has all the time in the world.
By working slowly and diligently, I am following the instruction in Proverbs 12:11; work your land. And therein lies the promise. Those who work their land will have abundant food.
Far better to follow the wisdom in God’s word and work your land, as the proverb says.
All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 14:23
This post is inspired by chapter one of The Wise Man & the Fool. This is the first lesson that the characters learn in the parable-like story. In this lesson, both men did equally well. They were both hard workers and learned to earn an honest wage. The differences between the two men — the wise man and the foolish one — appear later in the book.
As I observe hard-working believers the world over, I find this to be a common truth. Almost all of the Christians I know are people with a good work ethic who understand the value of an honest day’s work. Yet many of those people still experience financial difficulty in their lives and find themselves living from paycheck to paycheck.
That does not negate the value of this verse; it is an essential starting-point in the journey out of financial difficulty.
That said, there is much to think about with respect to this verse. We need to consider it in the light of other verses. For instance,
The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town.
Ecclesiastes 10:15
At first glance, this verse appears to contradict Proverbs 14:23 and points to the futility of working tirelessly, day after day.
Then there are verses like,
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Psalm 127:1-2
This verse really speaks to me when I consider my career in the corporate world. I recall a time when I woke up at 05h00 each morning. I would leave the house at 06h00 and face a grueling one and a half hour commute into the office. This was followed by nine hours — or sometimes ten — of work and endless meetings that ranged from tedious to pointless, but for which I received my monthly wage. Then followed the commute back home for another one and a half hours, assuming there were no traffic incidents en route. I usually arrived home between 18h00 and 19h00 in the evening. And I did this for eight years.
It was exhausting.
During that period of my life, I gained a deep understanding of Psalm 127:2. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat.
Profitable Work vs the Toil of Fools
So how should we equate these two polarized views of hard work in the Bible?
The clue lies in Proverbs 127:1; unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. We need to understand what ‘house’ the Lord is building in our lives and then get with the program.
The difference is intent. And intent goes to why we choose to work hard. If we are simply working hard to earn a living and pay bills, we are engaged in the toil of fools. On the other hand, when we are intentional about putting God first in our lives and seeking his kingdom, we can begin to build our job and the work we do around that goal. In this case, our work becomes a short-term means to a greater end; establishing God’s kingdom in our own lives and in the world around us.
As believers, we understand this truth with regards to the pursuit of riches. Don’t chase after wealth and riches, we tell ourselves; life is not all about making lots of money. But the same rule applies to how we make our living and pay the rent each month. If life isn’t all about making lots of money, it most certainly isn’t all about making ends meet. Where is God in either of those pursuits?
If life isn’t all about making lots of money, it most certainly isn’t all about making ends meet. Where is God in either of those pursuits?
So how can we break the cycle, and ensure that we are doing profitable work but not engaging in the toil of fools? The secret lies in finding work that creates, or offers us, the freedom to seek God’s kingdom in our lives. For me, a job that devoured most of my waking hours and all of my energy, leaving me with no time to seek God’s kingdom or understand his purposes in my life, was the toil of fools. It paid the bills but left me exhausted and unfulfilled. It also left me unable to spend time on the things that were most important to me; my family and my relationship with God.
The change required some tough choices on my part. I left that job and embarked on a new adventure. That choice drastically reduced my income. My wife and I had a tough year, financially, as we adjusted to the new normal and figured out how to navigate this new lifestyle. I had a lot less money, but I had so much more time and energy! It was both terrifying and invigorating.
I have heard it said that people should learn to work smart, not hard. I subscribe to this philosophy insofar as, to me, ‘smart’ means making choices that create the space — read time — for me to seek God’s kingdom and understand what that kingdom looks like in my life. But, I have to acknowledge, those choices were not always easy. They made for a bumpy ride, financially, as my income reduced in the short term and bills began mounting up. This forced me to look at my whole approach to income and expenditure in a new way. I had to break a raft of culturally-ingrained spending patterns, centered around the love of money, and learn to make better financial decisions with the money I earned.
Yes, we should work smart, not hard — but we need to work hard at working smart.
Ironically, two years on, I am in a place where I earn more money than I did in my previous job. Only, now I work from home for the most part. I have more time to read and meditate on God’s word, and to share his word with others. I have more time to spend with my family. I have more time to pray too but, I confess, this is an area in which I struggle; I remain a work in progress.
I am still very much walking this journey and, I guess, will continue walking it as long as I live. However, I have committed to making more intentional decisions about how I earn my income as well as how I spend my money. Those decisions aim to put God first, to seek the kingdom and to work on the house that God is building in my life rather than on the toil of fools. I have chosen a job that fits around that objective, rather than one that encroaches on it.
As a result, I feel more energized than I have in years past. This because, today, I experience the promise in Psalm 127:2; he grants sleep to those he loves. It does not mean that I am living a life of leisure, however; it merely equips me to live a life of service to his kingdom. And that has made all the difference.
