The sluggard and the righteous

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE SLUGGARD AND THE RIGHTEOUS

Prov 21:25-26

25 The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

26 All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing.

NIV

Here is one of those unusual situations where two verses were needed to complete the idea. It appears there are two classes of people, the takers and the shakers. Those who refuse to work and expect those who do to support them. Yet it would appear the righteous, the shakers, are continually willing to give without reservation and quantity. But if the righteous give without sparing why then will the sluggard’s craving be the death of him? If he is being supported generously why should he work and why would he be brought to death? What about the age old saying, “You can give a man a fish and he will eat today, but if you teach him how to fish, he will eat the rest of his life”? No one knows as to this sayings origin, however its wisdom is obvious. Yet the sluggard would not even be willing to learn to fish, he simply refuses to learn to support himself and simply craves more than he has. But the wisdom in this proverb is regarding the difference between the two. It is not that the righteous give to the sluggard’s cravings. It is a show of the difference between these two kinds of people. One is a craver, the other is a giver. One thinks only of his own needs the other thinks of the needs of others. We might be tempted to think about this only in regards to material wealth. We see those who stand on corners or exit ramps with signs asking for support, while not applying for all the signs that say “Now hiring”. Are they truly in need, and we who have should really freely give? Perhaps, it is not for us to judge their condition. Just give without sparing. But then money is not the only thing the righteous should give without sparing. What about time? What about wisdom. Here is the idea of this. If a sluggard’s craving are the death of him, then the giving of wisdom, the gospel message, will bring him life. If the sluggard’s hands refuse to work, if he refuses to try to find life for himself, seek out the Lord, then he will indeed see death. But the righteous will liberally give the words of life, not sparing them from anyone. Just an idea that could be the meaning here. Yet it would seem it does refer to the material aspect of life. If that is true, then here is where greed and judgement enter into the life of us believers, the righteous. Do we judge those who would be considered sluggards? Do we withhold because we have judged them as lazy, or those who are working the system rather than their hands? They are on welfare, food stamps, housing subsidies and other government support and driving a nicer car then we have, yet they would be the sluggard as defined by this proverb because they refuse to work with their hands and they crave for more.  It does seem we have a problem in our society which may not have existed in the time of this proverb, although there were beggars then too. How do we give without judging? Who exactly should we give to? There are several agencies or church or religious organizations which must weed out the true needy from the sluggards. But again is that simply trusting in someone else to do the judging? Are we supposed to judge before giving? Does this mean we give to the sluggard? Maybe this just means we should be givers period. That would mean giving to whatever or whoever the Lord directs us to give and how much, no matter how much we have.  Is this about the rich young man, who appeared righteous, following all the commands, but then when Jesus told him to give, he went away sad, because he was greedy, not wanting to give that which was his. Whether it is giving material goods, wisdom, knowledge, or emotional or spiritual support, we are to give and do it without sparing, that is without holding back. This is a hard lesson, but it comes down to following the leading of the Lord in our giving. When prompted, we should give. It is that simply.