“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
How many times during each of our lives have we heard these words? Despite how often you have heard these words, how many of you know where these words come from? We all know these as words of encouragement, words that tell us the benefit of diligence and hard work.
Most who know a little about these words, will attribute them to Benjamin Franklin, and his publication of Poor Richard’s Almanac. In the 1735 version of the almanac, most Americans first saw these words in print. Words that Franklin saw as giving an earnest intent, with an uplifting message that reached the heart of the common man. But what most do not know, it was not Franklin who first penned these words, nor was he even the second. Franklin was not the originator of this now common phrase, he was just the one that made it popular.
The earliest record of this proverb goes back to a little known publication called The Book Of St. Albans, printed in 1486. It was a popular phrase among the people, and by no surprise, it soon made its’ way into print. So popular amongst the people, that in 1639, almost a hundred years before it was seen in Poor Richard’s Almanac, Baptist minister John Clarke made it a part of one of his publication.
So why did this simple phrase so capture the heart of the people? It might be because it was not first a phrase of the people, but one God gave to them. When we look at the society and the culture of England in the 1400’s, we soon discover that published books were rare. Because the cost to create a book was so high, most of the common people never saw more than a handful during their life. But one “book” the people did know. One “book” the people heard the words of often. And as they heard the words of this “book”, they would often remember the words they had heard, and repeat those words in their own language. And just what might that “book” be? The Bible!
The phrase that was popular by the people in the 1400’s, that found its’ way into the heart of American culture, were words that were just as popular when Solomon wrote them over two thousand years earlier. Proverbs 6”9 tells us, “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?”. It was found here, in the words that God led Solomon to write, that the phrase could first be found.
From the days of Solomon, to the people of England in the 1400’s, to Colonial America, the heart of the people could be found in the farmers. It was the farmers that made up most of society. The work done in the fields was the glue that held the society together. Society evolved around the crops found in those fields, the nourishment, products, and profits each of those fields brought. And no crop was closer to the heart of society than wheat. Wheat was the core crop that all society depended on, and could not survive without. And to the farmer that raised wheat, the words of this proverb could not hold any greater meaning. Wheat can be a demanding crop. One that requires back breaking work, and long, relentless hours in the field. But with each swing of the sickle, and each hour of sweat, the wheat farmer could see the reward for each hour he had tolled..
Many obstacles stood between the farmer and that reward. Weather often served as a hurdle the farmer would have to carefully clear. Often requiring him to perform painstaking hours in the fields to make sure the heat, the cold, the wetness, and the dryness, did not destroy his crop. From grasshoppers, to locust, to stink bugs, insects lined up to feast on his fields. The farmer would have to constantly watch and take precautions so the insects did not take over. The farmer must also worry and protect his crop from disease, knowing that wheat can be subjected to more diseases than any other grain crop. From blight, to blotch, to mildew, to yellow rust, the farmer has to keep a constant watch on his fields. Knowing that if disease is to start, then it can spread rapidly. Destroying his fields before much could be done to stop it. And if all that is not enough, the farmer has to deal with weeds. When wheat begins to grow, weeds called darnel spring up all through the field. Both the wheat and the darnel look alike, and it is not until the wheat begins to blossom, and the seed head appears, that the two can be told apart. But by this time the roots of the two have become intertwined, and it becomes impossible to separate the two until it is time to harvest the crop. So the farmer is required to deal with the weeds in order to make sure his crop can come in.
So why would the farmer raise wheat? Because of the need for the crop, the life sustaining substance that came to the people from his hands. Because of the smile that would come to his face as he saw his silos full. And because, at the end of the day, he could see exactly how all his hard work had paid of.
Of all the people of this world, Christians should best understand the job of the farmer. As the farmer is called to tend his fields, the Christians also has a crop we have been called to tend. A crop that requires both our work and our devotion. A crop, that like the farmer, should have us up early, eager to find ourselves hard at work tending to the fields. And just as the day will come when the farmer will rejoice in his harvest, Christ has promised us a day would also come when we will rejoice in a harvest as well.
“At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into My barn.”(Matthew 13:30). A future day will come, when Christ will call on the angels to harvest His field. To first gather the weeds and burn them. And then to collect the wheat and bring it to Him. But that day will not come without hours of work having been spent in the fields first. Hours and days needed by those of us who He has called to be the laborers, who is needed to work those fields. Fields that must be nourished, and a crop that must be protected. A crop that does not just demand the sweat of our attention, but the desire of our devotion.
The field that Christ has is vast, a whole world that the angels will one day harvest. But in the vastness of this field, Christ has called the Church in this country to tend an area of that field. An area of prime and rich land we call America. And as we look at the area of the field we have been given the responsibility to care for, what we see has to trouble us. A field that has been left uncultivated, with crops beaten down by the brutal storms. Stalk after stalk of wheat that is riddled by disease. Plants covered with insects, with leafs that are being stripped and eaten away. A field so riddled with weeds, that we can no longer distinguish between the weeds and the wheat that has yet to bloom. And as we look out on the field, we see vacancy, with only a handful of laborers trying to revive and keep alive what little crop this field has left.
But despite it all, if we will just take the time to walk the field, to put our hands in the ground, we will find that the dirt is still rich. A ground bursting with fertility, that just needs enough laborers to spend the day at work in it. A field that still echoes the words that Christ once spoke to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”(Matthew 9:37).
Church, I plead with you, do not give up and abandon this field! Do not allow the evil of the insects to ravish and destroy this crop. Do not give it over to the weeds, but see again the potential in this field that Christ once showed us. The wealth of a harvest that this field could produce, with stalks that stand high and proud. Stalks of such great stature, that the others fields of this world envy it. That the laborers of those fields turn again to us as an example of what a field should be.
Our neglect of the field may have been great, but the potential reward of this field still stands even greater! It is time Church. Time we rolled up our sleeves, picked up the tools that Christ has given us, and got our hands in the dirt. It is time we awoke from our sleep, got up early, and spent every waking moment of our days hard at work in this field. Knowing that every minute we spend in the field for Christ will leave us healthy, wealthy, and wise. Eternally healthy, filled with a wealth of grace and hope, and wise in Spirit. Arise out of bed Church, we have a field to tend! And with each day in the field we will know, there is a harvest coming soon!
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”(Galatians 6:9)
Dr. Mike Murphy