READING: Proverbs 19-24
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: A few texts in today’s reading remind me of a focus on laziness in yesterday’s reading, so I want to tie these readings together. I don’t think I’m lazy, but it’s nevertheless good for me to hear these wise words from Proverbs:
Prov. 19:15 Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.
Prov. 19:24 The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth [that is, he won’t even lift the food to his mouth to feed himself]
Prov. 20:4 The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.
Prov. 20:13 Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.
Prov. 21:25 A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work [even his own selfish craving will be unfulfilled because he’s lazy]
Prov. 22:13 The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!” [he comes up with ludicrous excuses not to work]
Prov. 24:30-31 I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined.
The wise person reads these words, internalizes these pictures, and sets his mind to work. He understands that laziness will ultimately lead to trouble.
PRAYER: I mentioned that I don’t think I’m lazy, but I do have a tendency to procrastinate. Please pray that I will apply these words above to that tendency as well. I will do better work if I plan my time better.
TOMORROW’S READING: 1 Kings 5-6; 2 Chronicles 2-3