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God's Word: A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing Proverbs 20:4 NIV. Bonus Reading: Psalm 19:7-8; Psalm 40:8

David Pugh, head of a publicly traded distributor of industrial products, and his top managers weren't on the same page about pricing strategy. For several weeks suppliers had warned that their prices would be going up. But his company's customers had come to expect price decreases. And David had so far failed to energize his managers for tough action to head off a serious earnings squeeze.

Then, in David's daily reading of Proverbs, [today's God's Word verse] leaped off the page. While still at the breakfast table, he dashed off a memo to his managers. After quoting the verse, he wrote: "Much is written about the sluggard, none of it good. It brought to mind our position [regarding] price increases we've received and are going to receive. Are we plowing now? If not, the harvest will be bare. In the past, in a misconstrued effort to be kinder and gentler, we've failed to push price increases when the time was right. As a result, we fell behind our competitors in achieving fair margins. Now is the season to plow. No bare harvest for this team!"

With fresh conviction, the company made the pricing adjustments. Margins were maintained and the market value of David's company increased more than 40 percent.

—John Beckett in Mastering Monday

My Response: Is my dilemma covered by specific scriptures? What general principles apply?

My Prayer: Help me to know your Word, Lord. Please apply it to my heart.

Adapted from Mastering Monday (InterVarsity, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to become so grounded in your Word and attentive to your Spirit that I won't charge off in directions at odds with your plan for me.

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