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'Be strong, be strong and be strengthened!'

Monday, August 25, 2008

HE CARES FOR THOSE WHO BEAR THE BURDEN

Proverbs 14:4
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:
But much increase is by the strength of the ox.

The Father has ordained that we should work on the earth. He actually has commanded us to work the earth to make it fruitful. It is our duty to subject creation to our will to bring us all we need; not all we want, but all we need.
Abundant harvests and increase are even sometimes indications of His blessing.

To do the hard work of farming, our Father has given us help, mainly the strength of the ox, but no energy is free. If the farmer refuses to properly feed his ox, eventually the beast will become weak and die. At the least he will not work to his complete abilities. The increase of the farmer is dependant on the health and well being of his ox.

Today, especially in western cultures, less and less of us are farmers. We create business-like companies where people are the ‘oxen’. People are the strength of the company. In India, we used to tell prosperous Sikh factory owners that if they provided more sanitary conditions to their Hindu workers, such as clean water, clean food and a clean work area, his workers would not be sick so often, that they would be healthier and therefore produce more. Thailand prides itself to have never been invaded by a western foreign power, and that they have always kept the communists at bay. The present King, Rama IX, is like a father to his people. He uses his position to travel all over the poor areas of the country to help people develop their resources and better their lives.
As a result, people in Thailand deeply love, respect and obey their king.

The principle also works here. A worker whose needs are not met will not be as functional as one whose needs are met; not only his needs but also those of his family. It is contrary to God’s way of doing things when C.E.O.’s pocket multi-million dollars profits, but their workers struggle to get health insurance. If the worker is well tended to by his boss, like the ox, he will put in the effort just out of love and gratefulness.

Let us make sure to properly reward those who work for us, be it man or beast, and doing so, serve and worship Him in the purest sense of the words:
by obeying His Words.

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