Proverbs 27: 23 KJV – Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
One of the most difficult aspects of planning for some people in getting started with their Estate Planning is knowing just exactly where they are now. Proper Estate Planning will accomplish wonderful things including a great plan for the future, but it will also organize you tremendously right now!
It is very important for you to understand where you are right now. You can’t do much without knowing that very well. Even if you do not ever take the time to create your own Estate Plan, you will fare much better in your daily activities and life by taking heed to the instruction in Proverbs 27: 23 KJV which says “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.” What this is saying is that we need to know what we have, we need to understand the amounts of what we are overseeing, and we need to give what we are tending to our best attention and resources.
One definition of the word “diligent” is earnest and persistent application to an undertaking or attentive care. When we are attentively caring or creating earnest and persistent application to know the state of our flocks then we are complying with this instruction. Our flocks here really is our Estate. Our Estate is everything we own and are entrusted to. We must be diligent then to know the state of our real estate, our finances, our time, our health, our children, and our thoughts.
Without being diligent in knowing the state of our Estate, we cannot with any form of accurateness or precision be able to make plans for our Estate. It is nearly impossible. If plans are made without this application of diligence, then they have a high probability of failure. In addition, people who do not apply diligence to knowing the state of their Estate usually do not plan. Lack of planning has adverse consequences that usually are not welcomed by anyone.
The second part of the verse to instructs us to “look well to thy herds”. This means that after we know the state of our flocks, then we must look after them well. We must give them care and attention. We must allocate resources to insure their welfare. We must provide measures for their well being and their increase. In essence, for our purposes, this means that we must Plan! We must create an Estate Plan for all we have been given. We must be a good steward of what we have so that we can see that it is not only maintained, but that it flourishes.
We are instructed here to be good stewards of everything we have. We are doing ourselves a disservice by not knowing the state of our affairs and assets. We are most certainly destroying our future by not planning for it.
It may be overwhelming, but begin to follow the instructions in Proverbs 27:23 one step at a time. It is a process that actually will continue throughout your life. The rewards you will reap from Planning are in excess of the time and resources you will put into the process. BASED ON FAITH.