“My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.”

Anyone who has ever bought any insurance policy knows that there is something called an “experience rating” that determines what the cost of the insurance premium will be. This holds true for businesses as well as individuals. Experience ratings are derived from the analysis done by Actuaries who are constantly crushing numbers to determine what the safe range of insuring would be. Many times we can’t understand why we have to pay more when we haven’t any claims against our insurance companies. It’s always the “other guys” who are hurting our own experience rating. Business is no different. At just the moment when our industry is earning an improved image or customer “experience rating”, some other company will be caught doing something not smart and drag down the whole sector. It happens all the time. So, it is important that regardless what happens to us outside of our control that we do actively manage our own experience rating to be the best we can be for our shareholders, out customers and our employees.

In Job we read of what experience can reveal. Experience is a great determiner of what the future can hold. Without experience we guess at what could happen going forward. We need to listen to our experience and not ignore what it is telling us. The lesson of Job is that experience tells us that what we sow, we will reap. If we plant trouble, we can expect the same. What does our own experience tell us about what happens with what we sow? God has given us many promises and lessons and He has given us the ability to draw upon our own experience to adjust and course correct for the future. He also holds us accountable to our own experience rating as we are told that to whom much is given, much is required. Experience is part of what we are given. What is our experience telling us today that we need to listen for carefully?

Reference: Job 4:8 (New Living Testament)