Proverbs 11:27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him
Henry Ford would be so pleased were he alive today. Henry Ford famously said something like, “You can have any color you want in your Ford as long as it is black.” Well, from what I can see, it appears to me that the vast majority of cars today will be either white, black, or a derivative of gray. If you are driving down the interstate, the cars coming the opposite direction will be, white, white, black, black, white, gray, gray, yellow. Most cars are white, black, and gray. If you have not noticed that before, now that you have heard it, you will see it everywhere. You can’t unsee it.
That is kind of the way life is. You pretty much get what you are looking for. If you are looking for white, black, and gray cars, that is what you are going to see. The point is, if you get that in your head, that is what you are going to see. If what you get in your head on a summer day working at camp at the Bill Rice Ranch are words like hot, humid, long, or hard, that is all you are going to see. Proverbs 11:27 says it this say, “He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.” You will pretty much get what you are looking for.
Let me encourage you in two things today. First, see the good. I don’t mean imagine good or ignore evil. I mean see the good that is actually there. Proverbs 11:7 says, “When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.” The previous chapter talks about the hope and expectation of the righteous: it is good. So, see the good.
Maybe you are seeing a hot day, but aren’t seeing beyond that day. The ultimate reality of my home in heaven is not just pie in the sky; it should temper and give perspective to everything I see and expect today. Verse 31 says, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed [paid back or rewarded] in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” In other words, there is hope and reward, and I am pretty much going to get what I am looking for. I would encourage you to see the good. Again, don’t be naïve, but acknowledge the good God has given. Seek it and you will get it. See the good in the world. Seek means “to dawn” as in the sun dawning. The idea is to pursue vigorously from the get go.
Second, seek to do good. Verse 19 says, “As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” In Proverb 11 you find the idea of “own” over and again, which is to say I am the first person to reap the blessing or burden of my own decisions. If I hit my thumb with a hammer, my own thumb will hurt. That is silly, but it is also obvious. If I am seeking to do good, it will come back on me. It will be rewarded. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but there is a God in heaven.
So, you will pretty much get what you are looking for. What are you seeing and what are you seeking? See the good. Seek to do good. Choose the good before you start the day.