My Favourite Business Proverb

by Ruth Marlene Friesen

My favourite business proverb is Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.”

I recall back in about 1984 or ’85, when Dad got his inheritance from his parents, my parents decided to buy a little car for me so their car would not be tied up when I got some little job elsewhere. I had moved home to care for them in their old age, but this was Mom’s idea, and after a while, Dad went along with it.

We had gone to look at a few used car lots. The morning we were going to go shopping again, and would need to decide on one particular red Acadian, I came across Proverbs 10:22 in my morning’s Bible reading. It jumped out at me as if to assure me that this car would be a gift from the Lord, and would be trouble-free. To make sure, I prayed earnestly that this would be the case.

Sure enough, we kept that car for about 10 years, and during that time I took to driving up to Nipawin each week, (a drive of more than 3 hours one way), to babysit for my sister, Elsie. I would drive up on Sunday evening, and return on Friday evening. That little red Acadian served me faithfully and did not start to have mechanical problems until that period was over.

Of course, I’ve always remembered that Proverb and considered it my favourite business Proverb. In the last decade of my life as I’ve worked harder at my internet business ventures, I’ve looked at this verse more and more often, and even made a computer screen background of it.

How do I understand or apply this favourite business Proverb now?

Well, it guides me in some decisions. If a new venture is offered to me, and it looks morally clean and healthy, and not too stressful to take on, then I lean to the decision to go ahead. But I count on the Lord to bless my efforts and bring in the wealth or income. At first that didn’t happen much, and it caused me to wonder if I had misunderstood God’s intuitive signals in my spirit. If problems came up that revealed something illegal or not fair to others, I have learned to see that as trouble and to back off.

In the last year or so, I’ve began to catch on to better marketing and promotional methods, and now I see that it is lack of knowledge that has held me back a lot. The blessings of the Lord come easier when I know what to do.

Still, I feel it is important to listen for the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, and not to make impulsive decisions. I pray and research a new program or business idea for a while, until I’m convinced in my heart/spirit, that this is clean, and could be a means of gaining income in an honourable way.

I do not expect the Lord to hand wealth to me on a platter; I do have to work for it, and I’m quite willing to do so. But because I listen for His guidance in my business decisions, I give Him the credit and thanks for each amount of income that comes my way. I receive it as from His hand.

I take my favourite business proverb, and make it yours; “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Proverbs 10:22 NI)