Proverbs 14:23 ESV
In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+14%3A23&version=ESV]
It’s an unfortunate reality of life that when we try to get our jobs done by talking about getting them done, nothing really happens. At some point, you have to sit down, buckle up, and get to it- even if your job is half talking anyway, like a counselor, you still have to move from ‘talking about doing something’ to actually doing it. It’s annoying, it’s painful, and it all started in the Garden of Eden.
In the Garden of Eden, man sinned. Adam took of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, ate it, and thereby rendered himself and all his posterity, we, accursed by the actions of him, the natural man’s federal head (Rom. 5:12). In recompense for this, God cursed the serpent, cursed Eve, and (most relevant for today) cursed Adam. This curse upon Adam included these words: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen. 3:19). In other words, man had to work for his food, and he had to work hard. That’s still true today. Big talkers are not always big doers. Boasting is called hot air for a reason; unless you can back up your boast with accomplishments, people are well advised to ignore you. Similarly, if I spend my day yammering on to my friends and family about how wonderful my job is, but I never actually do the job, I’m going to get fired or go bankrupt, depending on whether I’m my own employer or not. Eventually, talk must give way to action.
What does it mean that ‘all toil leads to profit’? If I toil at stacking Lego bricks every moment I’m not sleeping or eating, am I profiting? Well, yes, in a sense- if my goal is being really proficient at stacking Lego bricks. All toil will bring a profit; the question is what kind of profit it will bring. In a sense, particularly for some of us, talking a lot would be a kind of toil, albeit one all too often unproductive of that which we actually need. That, right there, is the point: different toil for different profit. Toil in the fields, and by God’s blessing you have a harvest; toil in the paperwork, and by God’s blessing you have a complete spreadsheet or another year of freedom from the IRS; toil in the home and, and by God’s blessing you have a family which will sing His name, which will hold Him as their everlasting sign (Is. 55:13). Discernment, then, is necessary, discernment to tell not only what profit is desirable in God’s eyes but what toil will, without admixture of vice, deliver that profit, whether it’s to your own character, your family’s souls, your family’s physical needs, or simply the joy of the Christian before the Lord.
On the ‘talking’ side of the equation, we need to distinguish between different types of ‘talk’. First, we have the type of talk under condemnation here: empty talk, useless talk, waste of space talk. We’ve all indulged in it from time to time. We have something we need to do, we don’t want to do it, and so we spend a lot of time talking about it and any irrelevancy which comes to mind, putting it off, procrastinating. We think we’re underappreciated, so we blather on about our own achievements, much to the neglect of the actually accomplishment of those achievements. Empty talk is talk which doesn’t bring good profit. The second type is talk that profits a man- like telling a father his son will live, like negotiating peace between two friends, like bringing “good news of happiness” (Is. 52:7)
On the other hand, toil can be empty too. I can work for hours moving water from the sink to the stove with an eye-dropper, but that won’t get me anything worthwhile. What differentiates empty toil from profitable toil, empty talk from profitable talk? In short: the relationship it bears to the Lord and His character.
All talk and toil which honors and worships God is worthwhile (though, of course, we should choose that which honors Him more- some talk and toil is more and some less honoring). In church, this principle’s application is obvious. In family Bible study too, we have no trouble understanding it. What about other times? What about when we’re eating, playing, working, conversing with friends or family or strangers? God’s Word commands us, though, to do all we do to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). This command is hardly ambivalent, and it implies that all we do can be done to the glory of God. When we eat, we can eat in order to nourish a temple to His glory. When we play, we can play in order to find the joy which He has bestowed upon us in His creation. When we work, we can fulfill the vocations, however menial, given to us by God. When we talk with our fellow man, we can seek to raise both ourselves and him up to a greater virtue, a greater reflection of His glory. Thus we may glorify Him in all we do, seeking His righteousness and honoring His name, with joy forevermore before Him.
On this earth, this task is often a difficult one. Yet, in the fullness of time, He will make it, as Christ promised, an ‘easy burden’ (Matt. 11:30). The love which He fosters in us first for Him and consequently for all that He makes, all that is good, that love will give us a joy and an overwhelming desire to fulfill His commandments (John 15:10; 2 John 1:6). The world will rage and howl and seek to cast us asunder from Him (Ps. 2:1-3), but in the end, He will save all that the Father has given Him (Rom. 8:35; John 6:39). In this we have hope.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
