T. R. Weston
In the Book of Proverbs
The sluggard is much spoken of in the Book of Proverbs, and we think we may do well to reflect upon what is said about him, for doubtless his counterpart is with us today, not only in natural but also in spiritual things.
The sluggard may be described as one who does not come up to, or properly respond to his privileges.
He is put to shame by the animal creation, for in the first mention of him he is exhorted thus: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler provideth her meat in the summer,, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Prov. 6:6, 7, 86Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. (Proverbs 6:6‑8)).
Though endowed with a reason, he debases himself below the level of the brute creation, for their natural instincts show the necessity of procuring food by labor and at the right season.
He also ignores the primal curse resting upon man “that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread all the days of his life”; he in fact “will not plow by reason of the cold,” and as a consequence he shall beg in harvest and have nothing (Prov. 20:44The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)).
All his desire is for sleep and indolence; for he says in answer to the question — “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of sleep?” — “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep”: and the divine commentary upon his conduct is, “so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Prov. 6:9-119How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 6:9‑11)).
Again, although this man is possessed of a field and a vineyard, it yields him no profit, for he will not by industry keep down the earth-born results of the curse — the thorn and the briar, and as you pass by his possession you are forced to exclaim, “Lo, it was all grown over with thorns; and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down” (Prov. 24:3131And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. (Proverbs 24:31)); and for the second time we read, “so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man” (verse 34). The “stone wall” broken down shows us that a “diligent” man had preceded him, but the slothfulness of the sluggard undoes the work of his industrious father, and he becomes an offender not only before God, but also before his fellow men.
He desires good fare, but he cares not to hunt and procure that which is to be roasted (Prov. 21:2525The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. (Proverbs 21:25)). He magnifies the smallest obstacle, and his sloth sees a “lion without way” (Prov. 22:1313The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. (Proverbs 22:13)), which if he took the trouble to investigate he would find to be perhaps but the tiniest lamb, but he will not go without to look, for he says (and it is mentioned twice), “I shall be slain in the streets.”
“As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him”: he is most unreliable in all that he undertakes, or that is committed to him to do, he is therefore always “under tribute,” but had he been diligent he might “have borne rule.”
By his inactivity he surrounds himself as it were with a hedge of thorns, and can make no headway, whereas if he had acted aright and exercised himself, his way would have been made plain, for he would have prospered in his work, as in “all labor there is profit,” but he has been slothful in his work, and has become as a brother to him who is a “great waster,” for he who refuses to get, and he who having obtained, wastes his substance, are very much akin to one another.
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! seems all his desire. He is indeed an idle soul, and an idle soul we are told “shall suffer hunger,” but what cares he? he simply hideth his hand in his bosom instead of stretching it forth in labor.
He thus remains in one place, no progress, no increase, no development, no enlargement, but “as a door upon its hinges” so he turns in his bed, yet with all his base and unworthy conduct, he is full of conceit and arrogance and considers himself “wiser than seven men that can render a reason” (Prov. 26:1616The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. (Proverbs 26:16)).
We know that the Book of Proverbs gives us heavenly wisdom for earthly ways, and we may surely be exercised as to how much the sluggard in natural things has his counterpart with us in spiritual things. We are told that that which was written aforetime was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, and it were well for us to test our spiritual condition and activities by these divinely given comments on the sluggard’s conduct. We have a field to cultivate, a wall to repair, a Master to serve, messages to run and wealth to gain. Do we grow slack as to our soul’s prosperity, and indifferent to our separation from the world, and idle in our Master’s service’?
We will quote a few New Testament scriptures bearing upon this subject, and may the Lord greatly exercise each one of us as to whether we come up to and respond to the blessed privileges conferred upon us, as well towards God as towards our fellow Christians, and also towards the world that lieth in the wicked one.
Surely the signs of the last times are very visible when we consider the vast inert mass of indifference, do-nothingness and Laodicean lukewarmness extant. May the Lord graciously arouse each one of His own to work for Him “while it is called today,” full well knowing “that the night cometh when no man can work.”
I Shall Arise
L. M. Warner
I fail — I sin — I fall:
But Thou, oh God, wilt raise me up again
As I on Thee do call.
I faint; yet I pursue,
For Thou wilt give me power to run my race;
My strength Thou wilt renew.
If I but wait on Thee,
I shall mount up on eagle’s wings, and prove
The strength Thou givest me.