Olly Olly Oxen Free

Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.
Proverbs 14:4 NLT

When we played "Hide and Seek" as children and the seeker got tired of looking for the hidden, he used to holler, "Olly Olly Oxen Free" which signaled to those still hidden that they could come out of hiding without fear of being tagged "it". Now what that has to do with oxen is anyone's guess. It's one of those phrases that the origin is pure conjecture, but I thought about it today when I read this verse. 

Nobody likes to muck out a stable. However, if you own farm animals, mucking out goes with the territory. If you don't clean up, the animals will become ill and not able to work. The training and care of oxen require hard work and patience, not to mention resources. One working ox will eat about 33-35 pounds of good brush hay each day, plus it needs a feed supplement and an available salt lick, not to mention water, etc. And an ox should be 4 years old before being put to hard work, so you either support it for several years with no return or you pay the premium price.

The principle is loosely similar. In the child's game, the seeker searches for the hidden and gets tired, so he quits. It's easier in the moment to not search even though it means he will remain "it" and alone and nobody wins. Likewise, the stable stays clean if you just don't bother getting the oxen in the first place. However, without them, you don't have a harvest - there is no win.

The Truth is - there is no Olly Olly Oxen Free. There's always an investment. A price to be paid. In the case of salvation, it is free to us but only because Christ paid the price. However, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) - to bring it to the place of completion. If we don't finish the race, we cannot win. 

Keep searching His Word - He will be found by those who search diligently for Him. And with Him, we win!

Prayer:

Father,
           Reveal Your Word even in the obscure. Speak to us daily for without You we are lost. Open our ears to hear, our hearts to obey and our mind to receive Your wisdom. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen