“As workers who tend a fig tree are allowed to eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employer’s interests will be rewarded. As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. You cannot separate fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle. Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation. After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field. And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.”
Proverbs 27:18-27 NLT
What is in the heart is what will be produced by the hands. In this way, you can discern whether the person who made it is foolish or not. The outcome always belies the heart. This is a trope of life. Tho not always the case, it is true enough to be a generally sound rule. If one dies a fool’s death, he was most likely a fool. This is because foolishness, just as wisdom must be cultivated. It is cultivated by every action that is not godly. Unfortunately, these are easy behaviors with quick outcomes. Therefore foolishness is also a quick weed among the crops. Removing it is nigh impossible. Keeping it from growing back is a never ending struggle. This is why we have to make sure to never give it ground to cast itself further. We must pull it from the root and remove it from the soil. In the same vain, we must tend the soil with productive behavior. We must constantly be attentive to the productive outworking of our gardens. In this way, our prejudice against the weed of fools and our attention toward a harvest of righteousness will leave no room for a crop that is in need of rehabilitation. In this way, perhaps the curse of tilling the ground is meant to teach men how to till himself and stay healthy and wise.
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