Friendship and Finances (Proverbs 6:1-5)

There are times when we stick our neck out for a friend. It may be that you have a job and you give a good report to your boss about your friend. But what if your friend wants to buy a car or a house. Should we have the same attitude? Should we write our name on the dotted line and become a cosigner? The answer is no. The Lord does not encourage us to do this at all. This kind of attitude toward finances can destroy relationships. Solomon explains why.

My son, if you have become security for your neighbor, if you have given your pledge for a stranger or another, you are snared with the words of your lips, you are caught in the speech of your mouth." Proverbs 6:1-2, Amplified

Oaths and pledges are hard things to break because our reputation is on the line. But Solomon states that if we have opened our mouths in pledges or shaken hands (NKJV) then we are snared or trapped. We feel that we must continue on this path we have paved for ourselves simply because we said we would do it. What Solomon is going to prescribe for us is a way to get out from under that oath. Essentially there are only two ways out of an oath: your friend releases you or the task is complete. Solomon would prefer neither.

"Do this now [at once and earnestly], my son, and deliver yourself , when you have put yourself into the power of your neighbor; go, bestir and humble yourself, and beg your neighbor [to pay his debt and release you]." Proverbs 6:3, Amplified

Solomon suggests, no commands, that we go to our friend and ask to be released. What will be said about this subject later in the Proverbs is that your bed will be taken from you if your friend refuses to to or cannot pay. In todays economic state, I would not guarantee anyone to be a cosigner, not even if we were at the peak of our economy again.

"Give not [unnecessary] sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids; deliver yourself as a roe or gazelle would from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." Proverbs 6:4-5, Amplified

In nature, animals resist being trapped. But when we look at this subject, it seems that more humans are prone to simply walk into the net. Go and deliver yourself. Resist that trap. If you have not already become security for a friend, then never do it. I would much rather risk the friendship than my finances. Why, for the sake of my friend, should I put my family in jeopardy? I should not have to.