This week, we have been addressing an issue that has
been prevalent and prominent in the conversations that we have been having as a
culture when it comes to money, possessions, and treasure. And that issue is
the issue of debt. So far this week, we have talked about the state of debt in
our culture today.
Wednesday, we talked about the significance of debt
in our culture today by looking at two different passages that provide us a timeless principle when it comes to
the issue of debt. And that timeless principle is this: When it comes to
treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that enslaves us.
We talked about the reality
that the temptation to get into debt is driven by an arrogance that blinds us
to the reality that debt will enslave us. You see, awareness, leads to
discontentment, which leads to debt. We can be perfectly content until we
became aware that there is something better. And it was that awareness that
fueled an arrogant discontentment that can lead to debt.
Now, today you may be thinking
“well Dave that is great; thanks for telling me this now, but where were you
five years ago? I am in debt now, how am I supposed to get out of debt?”
If that question is running
through your mind, I have good news for you. And that good news is that the letters that make up the Bible also provides a strategy on how to get out of
debt; a strategy that we find back in the book of Proverbs. So let’s look at
that strategy together, beginning in Proverbs 6:1:
My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, Have given a pledge
for a stranger, If you have
been snared with the words of your mouth, Have been caught with the words of
your mouth,
In this proverb, we see Solomon addressing the issue of
debt with his son by providing an example of what not to do. To understand the
example, however, we first need to define some terms. When Solomon uses the
word surety, he is referring to a person who pledges to guarantee the debt of
another. The word pledge here refers to making a down payment that serves to
seal a financial agreement.
In our culture today, we refer to this as being a
cosigner on a loan. Solomon is providing an example of a person who provides
the down payment and cosigns on a loan for another that commits them to be
responsible to pay off the loan if the person defaults on the loan. Notice how
Solomon describes this financial arrangement in verse 2: “If you have
been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of
your mouth”.
Solomon uses a hunting metaphor that paints a picture of
an animal being caught by the bait of a trap to describe how a person becomes
caught by the bait of debt by making the commitment to enter into such a
financial arrangement as a cosigner. Here’s the timeless principle that Solomon
provides in these verses: Never, ever, ever, be a cosigner for a loan.
There is a reason why that bank is not willing to lend a
person money. And that reason is because the bank views that person as being a
serious risk to fail to pay back the loan. There is myriad of landmines that surround
the idea of cosigning for someone else, especially when it involves family.
After providing the example of debt, Solomon then provides a strategy for
getting out of debt in verse 3:
Do this
then, my son, and deliver yourself; Since you have come into the hand of your
neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to
your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids;
Here we see Solomon provide his son three specific
commands in order to deliver, or free himself from the trap of debt that he had
become caught in. Solomon’s first command is to go. In other words, Solomon is
revealing the reality that debt is a serious and urgent problem that requires
immediate attention. Debt does not resolve itself; the trap of debt needs to be
attacked immediately and aggressively.
Second, Solomon commands his son to humble yourself. What
is so interesting is that this command, in the language that this letter was
originally written in, literally means to exert oneself to the point of
exhaustion through persistence. Solomon’s point behind this command is that
getting out of debt requires strenuous effort. While it does not take much
effort to get into debt, it takes a great deal of effort to get out of debt.
Third, Solomon commands his son to importune the lender.
This word literally means to plead your case aggressively or to badger someone.
In other words, Solomon is encouraging his son to consistently and persistently
speak to the lender to attempt to negotiate a situation where the debt could be
paid off sooner or with terms that are more reasonable.
In verse 4, Solomon then reinforces these commands with
two additional admonitions: Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your
eyelids. Solomon’s point is that we are not to be lazy when it comes to dealing
with our debt. Instead we are to deal with the debt immediately. Solomon then
paints an amazing word picture to summarize his strategy in verse 5:
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the
hunter's hand And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Solomon provides a word picture that, while we may never
have experienced firsthand, almost all of us have seen this picture unfold,
haven’t we? I mean, at some point in our lives all of us have seen this picture
play out, either on wild kingdom growing up or on natural geographic today. You
know the picture: “Jim, here we see the gazelle grazing in the African tundra.
Just look at what a beautiful animal the gazelle is. Oh, now we see the
cheetah, as the hunter, begin to stalk his prey”. Have you ever noticed that
the humans never warn the gazelle?
We all know what happens next, don’t we? Sure we do-
there is going to be a chase; the cheetah is going to chase the gazelle. And
one of two things is going to happen: either the cheetah will catch the gazelle
and have dinner, or the gazelle is going to escape.
Now here is the question: Are either the cheetah or the
gazelle casual about what is happening? Does either the cheetah or the gazelle
seem to be lazily going through the motions? No, there is intensity there; I
mean that is why we lean to the edge of our seat; that is why we do not change
the channel; that is what we watch. There is an adrenaline rush and intensity
that occurs.
And it is that same intensity that Solomon wants his son to
display as he attacks the debt that he has become enslaved to. As Dave Ramsey
so famously states when referring to this passage “we need to attack debt with
a gazelle like intensity”. You see getting out of debt is like dieting.
Debt and dieting are really both quite simple. We all
know that we gain weight when we eat more calories than we expend. And is the
same way we get into debt when we spend more money than we earn. Similarly, we
all know that we lose weight when we burn more calories than we eat. And, in
the same way, we get out of debt by making more money than we spend.
The problem isn’t in understanding how to diet or get out
if debt; the problem is in our behavior when it comes to dieting or getting out
of debt. And to get out of debt, we need to, with gazelle like intensity, make
more money than we spend and then take that money to pay off the debt. It is as
simple as that.
Whether it is working two or three jobs in order to pay
off the debt; whether it is spending significantly less money than in the past;
whether it is a combination of the two; to get out of debt requires an intense
and a persistent commitment to do so. Because, as we have seen this morning,
when it comes to treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that enslaves us.
So, are you in debt? And if you
are in debt, what are you doing to get out of debt? Because debt enslaves us and arrogantly
presumes upon tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment