Day 241 Bed Without Supper | Proverbs 20:13-15
Bed Without Supper
13
If you love sleep, you will end in poverty.
Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!
14
The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,”
then brags about getting a bargain!
15
Wise words are more valuable
than much gold and many rubies.
Verse 13
This is similar to Proverbs 19:15. Sleep is good, but it is not good to be lazy. The lazy man becomes poor, because he refuses to work. The worker earns his wages, so that he has plenty of food. This is God's expectation that we should work for our food and not be lazy.
Verse 14
This buyer bargains for a cheap price. Perhaps he even cheats the seller. The buyer says that the seller is selling something bad. But later, he tells the opposite to his friends. He has bought something good at a cheap price.
This is how things often work in the real world, not necessarily how they should.
People do not always mean the things that they say. And many people try to make a profit unfairly. We should be honest (Matthew 5:37).
Verse 15
Gold and precious stones seem valuable. They are beautiful and expensive. But many people own them. And these things are not very useful.
Knowledge is useful. Knowledge is more valuable than gold or precious stones. Knowledge is also rare. See Matthew 7:14.
Verse 15 teaches that the most valuable thing in life isn't wealth or gold, but understanding—specifically, knowing how God designed the world to work for the best outcomes.
Consider this: On cruises, in port, bargaining is a cultural norm. If you accept the first price offered, the seller might feel insulted. Even though I dislike bargaining, I found a way to do it subtly. For example, if a shirt was $9, I would negotiate to get two for $16, and then push further to get three for $30. The seller thought they outsmarted me, but I felt satisfied because in the U.S., one shirt could cost $40 or $50. When you bargain, do you try to get every last penny out of the seller?
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