Friends of mine recently drew my attention to a verse I had never seen before. Proverbs 6:5, which says, “Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.” As you read from the beginning of the chapter, you can see that this verse relates to making a pledge on behalf of your neighbour.
In today’s vernacular, this pledge means you are co-signing a loan with someone, thereby making you responsible for the debt. To put it another way, this verse could read – ‘free yourself from debt, like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.’
Interestingly, when you study the gazelle, it is often hunted by a cheetah or leopard. Although gazelles travel at high speeds, so do cheetahs. To survive, a gazelle has learned to jump and run in quick, unpredictable movements in order to avoid a death by a cheetah. This behaviour tires out the cheetah and gives them incentive to give up the chase.
One may ask what has this to do with debt? Good question!
Proverbs makes it clear that we need to have strategies like the gazelle if we want to free ourselves and avoid debt. Doing so requires a tenaciousness to get free – free from debt and the poor choices and habits we may have developed over the years.
The habits form so easily. Maybe a morning Starbucks to start the day and mid-afternoon for one to stay awake or maybe lunch out with colleagues to catch up on life. It could be a new outfit for work to keep looking sharp and in style. It might be a dinner out with your spouse or friends to have some fun or perhaps ordering in has become a habit when your day has been stressful.
Taken at face value, these habits seem to be givens and are not wrong in of themselves. Credit card payments and lines of credit seem to be the norm. When these practices seen in the larger picture, when money is already tight, they can move you over the red line and hold you captive. As Proverbs 22:7 says, “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.” (The Message)
So what does gazelle tenacity look like? We seek to intentionally avoid the pitfalls our culture promotes – spending money we do not have for things we really do not need. We make the hard choices and do not give into our desires and emotions. We choose to keep our spending within our means. We budget and stick to it. We make every dollar work for us. We tell our hard earned money where it goes rather than having someone tell us differently. We cut out those things that are not really necessary to limit our spending and plan for special moments that do not put us over the red zone financially or emotionally.
It can be done. I know because I have been there.