- If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom helps one to succeed.
If the serpent bites before it is charmed,
there is no advantage to the charmer. -
Once again, we have some useful proverbs to discuss that can guide us in our own life. By adopting them, perhaps we can utilize them prior to experiencing their veracity.
Ever tried to cut something with a dull edge? It’s miserable work. I keep a razor blade on me and for some reason I’m terrible at replacing the blade.
In an effort to conserve my blades, I’ll use the same dull one again and again until my fingers are better tools. Only then will I reach for a new blade.
This same scenario used to happen in our kitchen until I bought a knife sharpener. Best decision of my culinary career.
No longer do we struggle in the kitchen to make cuts. Three quick runs over the modern whetstone and prepping a meal has never been easier.
Now, this isn’t just true when it comes to knives. You of course have heard the axiom of the southern man regarding this same truth?
Work smarter not harder.
What does it mean? It’s not an injunction against working hard, it’s simply that increasing your effort at times isn’t the best path forward.
Perhaps, if you step back and assess the situation, you can finish the task faster, with less effort, and potentially future tasks faster as well.
In fact, the decision to do the hard work is found in the decision to work wisely. What do I mean?
The best thing for you to do is not to man up. That is actually an escape to do what is expedient and not what is most efficient.
We think of hard work as only being that which is physically difficult. Sure, that’s part of it, but it’s important to remember to do the hard work of problem solving as well.
Now, what is this part about a serpent biting? If you have a King James version, you probably read this verse and didn’t think a second thought about it.
Those versions appear to talk about two people, a charmer and a babbler, i.e. someone skilled and someone filled with nonsense.
Pretty easy to see the meaning in that verse. Unfortunately, that’s not really what the verse means in the original Hebrew.
The ESV is a better match. In this version, we can see that the charmer is bitten because he has failed to do his job properly.
The serpent isn’t charmed and strikes. What is the point in hiring someone who cannot do their job?
Why is the charmer bitten? Well, it could be simply due to incompetence. The text here also implies another reason.
He is impatient or in hurry. Sometimes, when we are experts in dangerous work, we can assume we are fine because we’ve done this before.
It’s when you assume that you are above safety, that you get bit. How does this look in our own day and age?
We still do dangerous work. Construction for starters. Don’t tie off? That’s a dangerous risk a few stories up.
But it also comes in a host of office regulations and laws in general. The one time you don’t cross your t’s is the one time somebody checks.
What do our proverbs teach us today?
Work with wisdom and diligence.
Ecclesiastes 10:10-11