Matthew 25.14-30 contains a parable about risk. The Master imparts to His servants varying values of money and the end of the lesson teaches us we should be looking to increase our blessings. Easily we should identify Jesus to be the Master and ourselves servants. What though, is the talents? Not our skills, or abilities- those are the basis for how many talents we receive (v15); our talents could be considered blessings. If you have 12 children, God understands you to have the talent to raise them. If you been blessed with difficulty beyond belief, then God knows you are tough enough to handle it! (I pause here to say: may our God strengthen you- being blessed with difficulties is not a choice anyone would make. Be encouraged, you are loved.)
Therefore, the servant with five and the servant with two nearly squander their blessings. The one talent servant hides his so that it is not lost. Meaning, if he traded it as his fellow servants did, there is a possibility he would lose it. I am not sure why we read this parable thinking there was some kind of safety net for the first two servants. Consider this: would you take your mortgage payment and put it in the stock market? What if you lost it all? Now we may feel closer to the one talent guy.
But actually, the parable is encouragement for us to loosen up about our blessings. Jesus repeatedly covers this topic. From His dissertation about anxiety and provision in Matthew 6, to calling out the Pharisees for nit-picky tithing in Matthew 23. Yes, the parable calls the master a “hard man” who expects returns on His investment; but lest we forget, HE is the giver of all blessings in the first place!
Have you prayed about your situation? You should. Prayer is necessary. Step two, make those blessings work for you. Perhaps you need to dig it up and dust it off. We were not meant to sit around waiting to die; this is not the type of waiting on the Lord we are told to do. There is a time and place for being a good steward. There is also a time and place for trusting that God will take care of you.
Have you noticed there is no fourth servant? No servant took his Master’s talents and traded them, but lost them?