Proverbs 12:11 (NASV)
"He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who pursues worthless things lacks sense."
Proverbs 12:11 (ESV)
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.
The above proverb is a contrasting proverb. The second line contrast what is said in the first line. In the first line we see that Solomon gives us a basic proverb about life: Work hard with what you have and you will not lack for food. But, the second line is the contrast of that truth: If, instead of working, we chase fantasies, we will only show we have no judgment. Sound and good judgment is shown by working the land (a metaphor for working our talent, gifts, resources) we have. But, if we just sit around and dream about it, or pursue useless endeavors, we show we have no good judgment and, will eventually show we have nothing to show for chasing fantasies. Dreams are great, but dreaming only has a place if the dream motivates us to work on the accomplishing of the dream. Sound judgment is found in those who work for their abundance, not on those who hope for it because they bought a lotto ticket, sat on a dock waiting for their ship to come in, or played the victim and blamed others for their lack of bread. God’s wisdom gives us discernment to make right choices about what is important and what is a pursuit of worthless things.
In order to “work his land,” a person has to know what his land is. In Solomon’s day this might actually be a piece of land. In our day, it might be better to consider it our gifts, talents, resources. To “work” it you have to identify it. You have to make sure you know what your recourses are in order to get the most out of them. We can often get caught up in wild pursuits and not really focus on what is our “land.” We make little headway pursuing something other than “our land.”
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