Sound Advice Series

Proverbs 6: 1 - 11

Sound Advice

1 My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, 2 You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth. 3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; plead with your friend. 4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.

I am sure that you have heard the old statement, ‘brother can you spare a dime?’ We find out from today’s message that we are gullible not only in financial areas but also in life’s decisions.

1 My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, 2 You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth. 3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; plead with your friend. 4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

We begin our study with some advice in not being ‘surety’ for others financial dealings. I think right away most of you may be saying to yourselves that you have enough common sense not to co-sign for any so called friend. However, I know of one weakness in this area in which you might find yourself valuable. It regards co-signing for your kids.

Here is one nightmare story of a father who did not know he would be responsible for a step daughter that he only supplied his income report and actually did not sign his name.

“Step-daughter wants to go to an expensive private college. Wife and her ex decide they can swing it so they apply for the loans to get her into and through school. Because I am married to her mother now the bank wants our joint income for verification purposes. When I supplied figures and signed saying that the revenue was accurate I had no idea I was also being held responsible for this loan also. Found this fact out when I got a demand for a missed payment in the mail. We still all live in the same house. That certainly made the situation awkward to say the least. This just added to the situation at home that sees her living here and working but paying no rent or support to the running of the house whatsoever. Good job, I still love her mother very much but the sooner this free loader hits the road the better.”

Do I hear any ‘Amen’s?’

There was is this prestigious law firm in Philly which was interviewing a young man for their law firm. One of the partners asked the young man to give the panel an example of his personal integrity. He thought for a few minutes and said, “Well in order to finish law school I had to borrow $100 Thousand dollars. I asked my dad to co-sign for the amount which he did. Well, just after my first case alone I paid off the amount.” The partners look at each other and nodded their affirmative to this act. Before giving the applicant their approval to him joining the firm, one of the partners asked just what case the young man was involved in to cause this re-payment. ‘Oh, the young man replied, ‘this was the case where my dad sued me to get his money back.’

If you look at the scripture verses again please note that the agreement was in words only. The guarantor had made a promise to the borrower, not the creditor. There was still time to get out of the bad deal.

Please note the verse - 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Both the gazelle and the bird rely on speed to escape danger. This is good advice. Do it speedily even if you have to look bad in the eyes of others. You will save yourself some big headaches later.