He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.

Definitions

Before we do anything else, let’s define the words “procureth” and “mischief”. These are not words that most people use in their everyday language. Procureth simply means “to seek”, while the word mischief means “evil”. The ESV says it this way, “Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it”.

A Simple Concept

Both of my grandfathers were farmers. They worked very long and hard hours in their gardens, working the soil and bringing in the crop. One of the concepts they learned from a very young age was that if they wanted a garden full of corn, as strange as this may sound, they would plant corn! When the harvest would come and the ears was ready to be shucked, then they would harvest CORN!

I know this may be a hard concept for some people to understand, but it is very true – if you plant corn, then you will reap corn. If you plant tomatoes, you will get tomatoes. If you plant squash – you guested it – you get squash.

This concept is not a new concept. The Bible talked about it in Galatians 6:7 – “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

This is not only true with planting physical seeds but also with anything we do in life! The verse we are looking at today says that if we purposefully seek to do good (planting), then we will seek favor (reaping). But we must be aware of one thing – it goes both ways. The last part of the verse says that evil (reaping) comes to him who searches for it (planting).

The Choice

According to this verse, we have a choice – we can either choose to live our lives by intentionally doing good or purposefully doing evil. It is up to you, but don’t forget – YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW!

Lord, help us to intentionally live our lives seeking to do good. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you each and every day.