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PROVERBS

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Prov 19:15

15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry.

NIV

We would think this is very obvious about being lazy. This certainly applies to the labor of a person’s life. God told Adam, because of his sin, he would toil the ground all the days of his life for his sustenance.

Gen 3:17-19

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

NIV

Yet it seems many have taken leave of this concept, that we are responsible to work all the days of our lives until we die. Over the years our government has attempted to make as many people dependent upon it for their sustenance. This has led people into a deep sleep, unconscious of their own responsibilities. Although it may be true there are some truly needy people who need assistance from time to time to help get themselves back on their feet, they should not become forever dependent, but learn how to become independent. However this does not relieve any person from their dependence upon God. We are all dependent on God for life itself, for salvation, and for all that we are, have and do. But this proverb speaks about the state of mind each person lives in. There is no room for sluggishness in life. The sluggish mind simply falls into a deep sleep, not able to render reasonable thought. We are not supposed to look to others for our food, only the shiftless might be in that mode. We are to work, to be industrious in our labor and life, both in efforts to provide for our own as well as in our labor for the Lord. This saying shows a cause and effect of those who are not willing to follow after those principles of working for self and God. We have to continually examine our hearts and minds to make sure we do not fall into a deep sleep in our lives. It can be easy at times to simply sit back and let others do the work. It can be easy to think we should come to a place in our lives when we should sit back and enjoy the fruits of our work. We should be careful about that. We have seen too many who gave up at a certain age and just got old in body and mind, falling into a deep sleep. No, we are to remain active all the days of our lives, continuing the growth process both in our mental facilities and spiritual understanding. This laziness can apply to our relationship with God. If we become lazy in our learning and understanding of the truth, we in fact will go spiritually hungry. Lack of food makes one weak, and if we are not being fed the word of God, the truth of God by both hearing it, as well as by the leading of the Spirit, we will be weak in our faith and our walk with him. We should not be lazy in our walk with the Lord, but exercising daily, eating daily, working out our salvation so to speak. It is now day and we do not have time to sleep, we need to be doing our work while there is work to be done. This applies to our lives and our calling from God. Wake up, get up and do something.