Cleaning the Crib (Proverbs 14:4)
PROVERBS 14:4
"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox."
CRYING & LAUGHING
There is the expression: "The things you cry about today, you'll laugh about tomorrow." This is, of course, a very broad generalization, but the point is that often the things the devil throws at you to 'break you,' God turns around and uses to 'make you' the strong, confident, warrior, that you are on the inside.
ROMANS 8:28 says, "...we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose".
LITTLE by LITTLE
"I will not drive them out from before you in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against you. By little and little I will drive them out from before you, until you be increased, and inherit the land" (Ex.23:29-30).
"...the LORD your God will put out those nations before you little by little; you may not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon you. But the LORD your God shall deliver them to you, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they are destroyed." (Deut.7:22-23).
CHALLENGES
I am confident that Israel would have preferred not to face any challenges and to simply be able to move into the promised land, without any obstacles or opposition. However, the hard reality was that if the present population occupying the land were totally eliminated, Israel would not have had a substantial enough population to keep the "beasts of the field" limited and controlled through hunting, and those beasts would have become an increasingly problematic situation for God's people.
PROVERBS 14:4
"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox." (KJV).
"...without oxen a stall is clean, and great is the increase by the power of the ox." (YLT).
"...without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest." (NLT)
"No cattle, no crops; a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow." (Message).
OXEN, (eleph), 504, is related to the letter (aleph)—originally an ox head pictograph—which also represents power, strength, and authority.
CRIB, (ebus), 18, can be translated as either manger, stall, or stable.
COST
The verse presents a very obvious agricultural example. Oxen require food or sustenance to work, or labor on a farm, which means there is a cost to the farmer. This cost includes not only feeding the animal but also cleaning up any mess created in the barn or stable provided for them. However, the cost and effort expended produce the desired abundant harvest. The heartier the oxen doing the work, the greater the cost and the "clean up," but the greater the harvest for all involved.
GROWTH & AUTHORITY
1) Life can be messy, but the very "mess" we go through often becomes the opportunity for growth and expansion in our lives.
2) Just as the Hebrew word for ox comes from the letter (aleph)—the pictograph of an ox head representing power and strength—increase and spiritual growth for us, and walking in the authority the Father has given us, is a process in going through the "mess" thrown at us to develop God-likeness on the inside.
SUMMARY
Every 'test' we go through is another opportunity to prove God's word is true, and as one person once said, 'It's an open book 'test'... pass it.''
You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours
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