Proverbs 13:4 (NLT)
4 Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.
A tourist once had dinner with a fussy old mountaineer who complained about hard times for fifteen minutes at a stretch.
“Why, man,” said the tourist, “you ought to be able to make lots of money shipping green corn to the northern market.”
“Yes, I ought to,” was the bad-tempered reply.
“You have the land, I suppose, and can get the seed.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“Then why haven’t you done so?” asked the tourist
“No use, stranger,” sadly replied the old man, “the old woman is too lazy to do the plowing’ and planting’.”
The bible has a lot to say about laziness.
Proverbs 6:9-11
“How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Proverbs 10:4
“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”
Proverbs 6:6
“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”
I think one of my personal favorites is
Proverbs 26:15
“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.”
Where there is laziness, poverty will soon make that its dwelling. One of the main causes of procrastination is laziness, we simply do not want to work, and we do not want to use our energy! This one statement I have been making throughout this series of devotions and I will say it again; “you are not where you ought to be neither do you have what you ought to because you are not doing what you know must be done!”
Sometimes we pray and pray and pray and God provides the opportunity but because it is buried in work which we do not want to do, we end up not getting what God has for us. Imagine the picture painted in Proverbs 26:15, you are hungry and there is food before you. You place your hand in the dish to pick the food but that wears you out so much so that you are not able to bring back your hand to your mouth to eat the food. Now that has to be the height of laziness. Now that sounds funny and a bit too extreme but truth be told, that is the situation in some areas of our lives.
To enjoy the fruit,. You and I will have to put in the work, God is ready to bless the WORK of your hands.
