Good people obtain favor from the Lord, but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes. No one can be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted. (Proverbs 12:2-3)
Favor? Good people obtain favor? What about all the folks in the panhandle of Florida who have lost everything? Are they all wicked? I came across a post on FaceBook this morning that said something about thousands of electrical linemen working to restore power to the region. Of course, I can’t find it now. It may take a while, but imagine if there were none or only those who normally work in the area. I’ve seen posts from folks who are headed up there, asking for stuff to take to help the people. There are ways to contribute online. I haven’t heard yet, but I know my Erie are church has people who build and repair houses in areas where disaster has hit.
So my first thought is that “favor” does not mean miraculous protection from everything bad in life. It also doesn’t mean that needs and wants are miraculously supplied. Favor does not equal miraculous. This is one that bothers me sometimes. I have been greatly favored, but most of it comes through the hands of people. Part of me almost resents being favored through another human being, but when that part of me rises up, I drive it back. I know people who reject the whole idea. “IIIII worked hard for this. It’s mine. I deserve it.” Who are we to tell God how He is to favor us? If He gives us a job that allows us to buy things, or a hard life that leads to the strength to withstand tough times, or someone who gives us something – it is still His favor that provides it. Recently, I did some math. I figured out that if someone who takes care of another person, whether a parent or a caregiver were paid minimum wage per hour, twenty-four hours per day, for a year, they would make $67,500. Bump it up to ten dollars an hour, and it’s $87,600. That’s without spending money. Mothers, Fathers, you are God’s way of favoring your children with over a million and a half dollars worth of care over the course of eighteen years, even before they spend a penny. As a caregiver, that makes me feel a little less like a failure. I have value, and that value is also a favor from God to my father. Pet owners? Yep, $67,500-87,600. It doesn’t matter whether you have an outside job, or not, because that outside job provides more resources for favor.
How does this differ from the lives the wicked lead? Perhaps very little. Perhaps only in their resentment of being a conduit for favor. Perhaps in the attitude that someone else should be the one to do the favoring. Perhaps it’s in their denial of favor to others, or through others. Statistics show that the children of single parents have a greater struggle than the children in a household where both mother and father live as a married couple. In denying favor to others, they deny it to themselves. In other words, perhaps the difference between the good and the wicked is one of attitude toward the favor God gives. Perhaps the condemnation He gives to those who devise wicked schemes is to let them go their own way.
So my first thought is that “favor” does not mean miraculous protection from everything bad in life. It also doesn’t mean that needs and wants are miraculously supplied. Favor does not equal miraculous. This is one that bothers me sometimes. I have been greatly favored, but most of it comes through the hands of people. Part of me almost resents being favored through another human being, but when that part of me rises up, I drive it back. I know people who reject the whole idea. “IIIII worked hard for this. It’s mine. I deserve it.” Who are we to tell God how He is to favor us? If He gives us a job that allows us to buy things, or a hard life that leads to the strength to withstand tough times, or someone who gives us something – it is still His favor that provides it. Recently, I did some math. I figured out that if someone who takes care of another person, whether a parent or a caregiver were paid minimum wage per hour, twenty-four hours per day, for a year, they would make $67,500. Bump it up to ten dollars an hour, and it’s $87,600. That’s without spending money. Mothers, Fathers, you are God’s way of favoring your children with over a million and a half dollars worth of care over the course of eighteen years, even before they spend a penny. As a caregiver, that makes me feel a little less like a failure. I have value, and that value is also a favor from God to my father. Pet owners? Yep, $67,500-87,600. It doesn’t matter whether you have an outside job, or not, because that outside job provides more resources for favor.
How does this differ from the lives the wicked lead? Perhaps very little. Perhaps only in their resentment of being a conduit for favor. Perhaps in the attitude that someone else should be the one to do the favoring. Perhaps it’s in their denial of favor to others, or through others. Statistics show that the children of single parents have a greater struggle than the children in a household where both mother and father live as a married couple. In denying favor to others, they deny it to themselves. In other words, perhaps the difference between the good and the wicked is one of attitude toward the favor God gives. Perhaps the condemnation He gives to those who devise wicked schemes is to let them go their own way.
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