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The Sluggard in Proverbs
The sluggard in Proverbs
As I first heard it, when Mark Twain was asked by a neighbor to loan him his hammer, he responded: "No, I can't do that because my dog died." When questioned concerning the connection of these two things, Twain replied: "If you don't want to do something, one excuse is as good as another." In trying to find this quote, I see that it is often simply said to be a Yiddish proverb. Older still is the concept as stated by the Proverb writer: "The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!”" (Prov. 22:13).
Such excuse making has tragic results: “The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, So he begs during the harvest and has nothing” (Prov. 20:4).
In a tragically humorous picture, Proverbs portrays such as being 'hinged to his bed': “As the door turns on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed” (Proverbs 26:14). He keeps turning over but never gets up, never goes anywhere, never does anything. He chooses the 'easy way' in both physical effort and mental effort and is thus left wanting in both physical needs and character.
He lies to himself thinking he will get up and get busy -- in a little while. “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest”— Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man” (Prov. 6:10–11).
As the fool who had the ability to learn but WOULD not, so the sluggard has the ability to labor but WILL NOT. Also like the fool, he cannot be instructed concerning this because “the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer” (Prov. 26:16).
Times haven't changed this situation, for we must still deal with such laziness. Paul wrote: "... we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. (2Thess. 3:12). Yet, knowing that there would be such lazy sluggards, he wrote that "if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either." It is not always easy to determine who it is that WILL not work, as opposed to the one who cannot work, for there is always a ready excuse. The streets seem to be filled with lions!
Excuses are NOT reasons, and excuses do not excuses us from our obligations and duties. How hungry do you have to be before you give up your excuses? Hugh DeLong
