Have you ever looked at someone and just wondered how do they do it? Their yard is mowed. Their flower bed is weeded. Their car is always washed. Their garage is swept, and everything is put back exactly in its place.
For you the grass needs mowing. There are weeds in the flower bed. The laundry is piled up and there is a pile of books and papers on your desk.
This mess may be a blessing! I have a verse for you.
Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox. (Proverbs 14:4)
I remember going into a shoe store department. Every shoe was displayed beautifully. A well-dressed young man asks politely. may I help you? Then I went to another shoe store. The place was a disaster. There were shoes and boxes scattered everywhere. The clerks were so busy that you had to track them down to get help.
When you did finally get some sales help, they seemed out of breath and sweating from running back and forth to the storeroom to get the shoes and then ringing up the sales. Because selling shoes is a commission job the shoe salesmen at the messy store was making really good money.
The cost of doing high volume sales was a frantic pace, sales representatives running around and a messy store. The rewards were the large paycheck.
In general Proverbs give us nuggets of practical wisdom. Proverbs 1:1 says Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs. If there are no cattle in the stall it is clean. This has something to say to us as individuals, It can speak to our church or ministry too.
In Solomon’s day the ox was like their tractor and their pick-up truck all rolled into one. They plowed their field with their ox. They even took their produce to market with their ox and cart. But unlike the tractor the ox produced manure they used for fertilizer and well, it made a mess.
Solomon is a king. He is a widely experienced king with a lot of experiences. He completed roads, building and excelled in many sciences. But he probably didn’t shovel manure or clean up many oxen stalls.
I picture this proverb first developing with some farmer shoveling manure from the ox. The farmer hates this work and grumbles the whole time. He comes in the house still grumbling and his wife adds, dear if we didn’t have the ox we couldn’t make a living. Be thankful that there is manure to shovel. Then, according to my theory of the origin of this proverb, Solomon perfected the wisdom of the farmer’s wife writing it down under the inspiration of God and we have it in our Bible now.
Some of the greatest blessings in life result in disorder and a mess. When I open my Bible to the book of Revelation there is scribbling all over a couple of pages. I need to thank God for that scribble. Now I show people and tell them this is some of the most helpful commentary notes on Revelation. I left my Bible open and my pen next to it and my toddler came and scribbled all over the Bible.
And for that matter we need to thank God for smelly diapers, increased doctor bills, sleepless nights and all sorts of messes. With a child some disorder and messiness comes into your life.
This is a proverb overflowing with practical wisdom. The more you involve yourself with people the more your life is cluttered and messy. But that mess is evidence of that blessing.
This Proverb is against slothfulness and laziness. When you have an ox you have manure and a harvest. No ox in the barn the stable is clean and no harvest.
In the church meeting there was a tear and smudge marks on the new vinyl wall covering. It is the result of having teenagers around no doubt. When there are more babies the nursery classes have to be moved around. There is more mess in the nursery. Children will eventually make an outburst in the worship service. The results of a growing and thriving church ministry is a mess. There is Sunday school, vacation Bible school, weddings and all of these church ministries cause cleanup work.
Think of the alternative to the mess. No children or teenagers in the church. Less ministry demands and exhausting meetings. There would be more order and less mess for sure. It would be a declining and dying church.
The farmer needs to remember his livelihood depends on that ox, mess and all. The church exists for people. An orderly church with no real ministry can be like an empty cathedral which is cold, lifeless and sterile. Our church exists for our people.
Yes there needs to be order. But as you move out of the church walls and meet the vast spiritual and physical needs of broken humanity it does get messy when God is blessing. If the farmer gets rid of the ox the mess is gone, but so is his livelihood.
If we stopped the entire ministry that caused a mess we wouldn’t be meeting the needs God has called us to. The increase comes by the strength of the ox. Some amount of disturbance is the price of growth and spiritual life.
A prime example of this is the church revival meeting. We pray and ask God to bring revival but you can be sure if God blesses with revival it turns orderliness upside down. Predictability goes out the window when God is moving. I was in a church and a one week revival meeting turned into a seven week meeting with real revival. There were loads of laundry undone, sleep was lost, lawns unmoved, shelves undusted. In the midst of this revival people were not cleaning out their garage. They were writing letters of confession and spending time in worship and prayer.
But to have God work in your life is worth more than all the orderliness you can ever achieve. We need to rethink out saying that cleanliness is next to godliness. It is more like messiness is next to true spiritual revival. When God comes in your life you die to your plans. There is a certain messy aspect to this.
You would never want to miss God’s work in your life. It is your opportunity to seize the day. It is time to grab the spiritual brass ring, not the time for spring cleaning your garage.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
When there is a spiritual opportunity in our life, we do whatever it takes. We may not have time to iron our clothes when God is at work in our life. We may admire the shoe salesman that looks to charming and is so available. It is because nothing is happening in there she stores. The point of a shoe store is not to create a beautiful display of shoes. No, the point is to sell shoes.
This Provers reminds us to get to the point of our life. That is knowing God. That is to have God work in our lives according to his glory. That means to prioritize eternal things over the temporal things.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer taking control of our lives. We give Christ control of our lives.
Increase comes by the strength of the ox. When disorder is a result of God’s activity celebrate it. Open your heart and don’t be afraid to let God work in your life
