The biggest thieves of all are the lazy people who could work but won’t, the people who consume what others produce but produce nothing for others to use. The “sluggard” and the “slothful man” are mentioned at least seventeen times in Proverbs, and nothing good is said about them. We need to recognize the fact that work is not a curse. God gave Adam work to do in the Garden even before sin entered the scene (Gen. 2:15). Before He began His public ministry, Jesus worked as a carpenter (Mark 6:3); the Apostle Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:1–3). In that day, rabbis had vocations and supported themselves but didn’t accept payment from their students. When we engage in honorable employment, we’re cooperating with God in caring for and using His creation, we’re helping to provide for others, and we’re growing in character. The work God has called us to do ought to nourish us (John 4:34), not tear us down; “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7; 1 Tim. 5:18). What are some of the marks of sluggards? For one thing, they love to sleep. “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?” (Prov. 6:9, NIV) “As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed” (26:14). Lots of motion—but no progress! Sleep is a necessary element for a healthy life, but too much sleep is destructive. Wise people enjoy sleep that’s “sweet” (3:24) because they know they’re in God’s will, and the laborer’s sleep is “sweet” because he or she has worked hard (Ecc. 5:12), but the sleep of the sluggard is a mark of selfishness and laziness. “Laziness could run a competitive race for the most underrated sin,” write Ronald Sailler and David Wyrtzen in The Practice of Wisdom (Chicago: Moody, 1992). “Quietly it anesthetizes its victim into a lifeless stupor that ends in hunger, bondage and death” (p. 82). Put the sluggard to work and he’s more of a nuisance than a help. “As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him” (Prov. 10:26). Vinegar on the teeth and smoke in the eyes aren’t necessarily lethal, but they do irritate you; so does a sluggard who won’t get the job done. All he does is dream about the things he wants to enjoy, but he won’t work hard enough to earn them. “The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work” (21:25, NIV). Dreams become nightmares if you don’t discipline yourself to work. Another mark of the sluggard is a know-it-all attitude. “The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly” (26:16, NKJV). He lives in a fantasy world that prevents him from being a useful part of the real world (13:4; 21:25–26), but he can tell everybody else what to do. He’s never succeeded at anything in his own life, but he can tell others how to succeed. Sluggards are good at making excuses. Either the weather is too cold for plowing (20:4) or it’s too dangerous to go out of the house (22:13; 26:13). “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway” (15:19, NIV). The diligent man or woman can always find a reason to work, but the sluggard always has an excuse for not working. Evangelist Billy Sunday defined an excuse as, “the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie,” and he was right. People who are good at making excuses are rarely good at doing anything else. What finally happens to the sluggard? For one thing, unless others care for them, sluggards live in poverty and hunger. “Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (19:15, NKJV; see 10:4; 13:4). “If any would not work, neither should he eat” was the standard for the New Testament church (see 2 Thes. 3:6–15). The saints were happy to care for those who needed help and couldn’t care for themselves, but they had no time for freeloaders who lived by the sacrifices of others (Acts 2:44–47; 1 Tim. 5:3–16). The sluggard gets so lazy, he won’t feed himself even when the food is brought right to him! (Prov. 19:24; 26:15) The sluggard loses his freedom and is enslaved to others. “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor” (12:24, NKJV). His debts accumulate to the point where he has to become a slave and work off what he owes (see Lev. 25:39–55; Deut. 15:12–18). The “easy life” of leisure turns out to be very costly as the sluggard exchanges his pillow for a plow and has to work off his debts the hard way. The sluggard wastes God-given resources. “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster” (Prov. 18:9). The lazy person may be “working” but not doing a very good job. Consequently, what’s done will either have to be thrown out or done over; this means it will cost twice as much. The sluggard also wastes God-given opportunities. “He who gathers in summer is a wise son; he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame” (10:5, NKJV). When the fields are ready for harvest, the reapers have to go to work, because the opportunity won’t be there forever (John 4:27–38). Diligent people are alert to their God-given opportunities and seek to make the most of them. Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1995. Be skillful. An Old Testament study. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 11:01:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015