Proberbs on Laziness

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Our raising grace creates a start みづく like rain I want a cold But now I'm found, but now I see Towards grace that holds my heart here And grace my fear to leave How precious is that grace appear The earth I first lead My chains are gone, I've been set free My God, my Savior, is ransom me And my God's blood is mercy raised On his in love, amazing grace The Lord has come as good to me His word, my hope, the cure He will my heal and for you As long as I can do My chains are gone, I've been set free My God, my Savior, is ransom me And my God, my Savior, is ransom me My chains are gone, I've been set free My God, my Savior, is ransom me And my God's blood is mercy raised On his in love, amazing grace The earth, my hope, is all nice Now the sun, for there to shine But God, who called me here Be though, will be forever mine Will be forever mine You are forever mine I've always enjoyed the book of Proverbs I love reading the book of Proverbs I love tracing themes through the book of Proverbs But Proverbs is a difficult book to preach It's just not one that you can preach very well Because so many unrelated verses Just kind of one after another And so one of the best ways to study the book of Proverbs Is to actually take topics Themes that are dealt with in the book And trace them through the book Pull together all of the verses on a particular theme And see what you can do to kind of group the thoughts and ideas And come up with some kind of approach to studying a topic In the book of Proverbs And so that's what I've chosen to do this evening And I've done this before from time to time I don't know whatever possessed me to choose the theme of laziness To talk about tonight especially to a group of retired folks Just let that one go I know that most of you are hardworking people But it's an interesting topic in the book of Proverbs And one that I think is worthy of some attention The lazy person in the book of Proverbs is not spoken of very highly In fact there are two words that describe The lazy person in the book of Proverbs And they both just sound kind of bad One of them is sluggard And the other is slothful And they sound like two animals Neither one of which we want to be like The slug or the sloth Very slow unambitious animals But the idea of a sluggard literally means Someone who leans idly Someone who just you just can't get them to do anything It's hard to tell whether or not they're moving They're indolent, they're slack That's the sluggard, the slothful person in the book of Proverbs And that's the person we're going to look at tonight But we also find in the book of Proverbs that that person is often Contrasted with the diligent And those two themes run together throughout the book You know that the book of Proverbs Good Hebrew poetry often is set up By way of what's called parallelism There are two statements in a verse And oftentimes those are contrasting statements You find that a lot in the book of Proverbs Where one part of the verse, the first part of the verse says One thing, second part, gives a contrast And so you'll find the sluggard Or the lazy person often Contrasted with the diligent person Or slothfulness Laziness contrasted with diligence in the book of Proverbs So we're going to look at that some tonight One approach to this is I've pulled together all of the verses Or most of the verses, some of them are duplicates And so we won't look at all of them But as I've pulled together the verses on this subject In the book of Proverbs I've come up with three different categories Which will form the three points of our study tonight One is the characteristics of laziness And there are four of them In the book of Proverbs Four different characteristics of the sluggard or laziness And then we'll look at the results of laziness The Bible here talks about a lot of results Both to others and to the sluggard himself Or herself And then we'll look at the alternative to laziness Which is diligence Okay, you ready? All right, let's dig in The characteristics of laziness And the first passage to look at Is one of those rare passages that does form kind of a paragraph In the book of Proverbs Proverbs chapter six Chapter six verses six through eleven The first characteristic of laziness Is an unwillingness to work And you might expect that But the book of Proverbs has a way of saying it It just doesn't come out and say this person doesn't like to work It gives word pictures And some of them are quite Quite amazing and very picturesque This is the case here in Proverbs six verses six through eleven Go to the ant you sluggard Consider its ways and be wise Let me just stop right there for a moment and say that this is the harvester ant In in in Palestine in the Middle East Which is well known for the type of behavior which Solomon will describe here And so he's talking about a member of the animal kingdom The ant a very small member of the animal kingdom Who if you if you've watched any nature programs on ants or Anything like that you know they are marvelous creatures Amazing creatures in their industry and what they are able to do And they're their organization But Solomon uses the ant then the harvester ant as an example and the first example is Is that the harvester ant Takes initiative Okay, notice he says go to the ant you sluggard consider its ways and be wise It has no commander no overseer or ruler yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food and harvest In other words, there is nobody overseeing the harvester ant to tell it what to do now I know there is a structure in the ant colony But the ant just moves to do what needs to be done without anybody pushing it without anybody saying okay Come on, I want to dock your pay if you don't get this job done or You're gonna be fired if no but there's no overseer. There's no commander There's no ruler. There's nobody saying okay 50 push-ups if you don't do this nobody saying that the Ant takes the initiative on its own And that is the mark of a diligent person the opposite of that is the mark of a lazy person See the sluggard is to learn from the ant to take initiative To say okay, here's what needs to be done Let's jump in and do it rather than having someone to have to push you all the time And then he goes on in verse eight to talk about what that initiative is It stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest the initiative really is the effort to prepare for the future Work now to prepare for the future Build for the future now that can be applied in so many different ways obviously materially Working for the future Storing up what needs to be stored for the winter and that's what the ant is doing Preparing for the difficult times of life by storing up provisions Working hard to provide for difficult times. That's what that's what the the Ant is actually doing and what the sluggard is encouraged to learn from but certainly the same thing is true spiritually To take the initiative to prepare for the future Not just thinking about today not just thinking about this week and what will indulge us the best But to be thinking about the future and how I'm going to be growing and how I'm going to be preparing for Serving Christ and and obviously the most important Laying up for the future is to prepare for eternity To know that you've trusted Christ to know that you're ready to die you'll go to heaven Also to be preparing for the judgment seat of Christ So preparing for the future storing up provisions in summer gathering food at harvest getting ready for that hard hard winter Now notice that lesson of the ant then is applied to the sluggard and look at look at how he's described verse nine How long will you lie there you sluggard when will you get up from your sleep? and The sluggard sees both of those questions as to definite Now don't push me to set the alarm clock don't push me to tell you what time I'm gonna get up That's too definite. I'll get up whenever I feel like it Now that that's the the part that Retired people are exempt from okay, so if you're retired just let that one go but but the idea here is The question needs to be asked how long you gonna lie there when you're gonna get up and the sluggard's response the implication from the the questions is I don't know that's the don't push me for the details on that. I don't know The sluggard can't answer those questions. That's the implication Notice again how he's described in verse 10 a little sleep a little slumber A little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity Like an armed man The the sluggard the lazy person is deceived by the seeming Smallness of surrender Surrender to laziness the seeming smallness of it But we're not talking about hours here. We're just talking about a little sleep little slumber little folding of the hands We're not talking about miles here. We're talking about inches And Little by little little by little operating word is little just a little just a little just a little just a little not much But little by little the sluggard fritters away Significant amounts of time that's the idea here So the sluggard because of these failings in verses 9 through 11 is encouraged to look at God's creature the ant And learn how without anyone pushing you without anyone having to tell you what to do you take the initiative To work hard to prepare for what's coming Okay, that's that's uh this great passage on the unwillingness to work for the lazy person look at a couple of other verses that talk about this Same thing chapter 21 and verse 25 and we'll be kind of flipping through the book of Proverbs this evening 21 25 The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him because his hands refuse to work Isn't that in that amazing language very direct um very convicting But but here's the point The lazy person desires the fruit of labor but detests the work that gets you there and so they want the in product There's the craving and the craving for Whatever that work provides the craving for that will be the death of you because Your hands refuse to work and so wishing Becomes a substitute for working this kind of person craves for what work might provide if they would dig in and do the work They want the end result, but they don't want the work that gets them there And so that's the mark of a sluggard Desiring the fruit of labor, but detesting the actual labor that produces that fruit Another passage 24 chapter 24 verses 30 to 34 Someone was was mentioning to me about the study this evening the message this evening and I was I mentioned to them before the service We're going to do a lot of farm talk tonight and then that in that agrarian culture Uh to work hard meant to work your land and to be diligent in working your land That's basically what they were talking about here's a good example of it chapter 24 verse 30 I went past the field of a sluggard past the vineyard of someone who has no sense Thorns had come up everywhere the ground was covered with weeds and the stone wall was in ruins Now you you understand that in the in the ancient Near East Fields were not marked off by fences like we have today they were marked off by Rose of stones that had been piled up. That's the way you clear to field if you've ever been to israel You know that the the Jewish tradition and Jewish saying is that when god was passing out the rocks on planet earth is bag broke over israel And there all this fall of rock formations full of stones and rocks. It's a very rocky hilly country and So the way that you cleared your field picking up all the rocks you use those rocks to form the boundaries of your field and What he's saying in there is these rocks are starting to fall down. There's a breach in the wall here Somebody's just not worked hard to keep that up So their thorns coming up everywhere the grounds covered with weeds the stone wall is in ruins and notice verse 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw And we've heard this lesson before a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on You like a thief and scarcely like an art man again not much just a little more time just a few more days just another week Little bit of here a little bit there a little bit a little bit there and Before long we've frittered away all kinds of significant time when we could have gotten things done That's the the talk of the lazy person one more verse on an unwillingness to work 2614 This is one of those amazing word pictures in the book of Proverbs as a door turns on its hinges So a sluggard turns on his bed His bed has hinges and he's hinged to his bed Just turns over and over and over and over and over never You know rolls on out the side and gets up So again just the word picture very graphic there about an unwillingness to work. We'll come back to chapter 26 In a few moments So the first characteristic of a sluggard or lazy person is unwilling to work and unwillingness to work the second Characteristic is that a sluggard is a quitter He's a quitter Just two verses, but they get across the point chapter 12 and verse 27 1227 the lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt You see the picture there Uh the lazy person loves to hunt But doesn't want to do the work of dressing out the game and preparing it for the table and getting it ready to eat And so they don't roast it. They don't use it. They don't eat it, but the diligent person feeds on the riches of the hunt So willing to go beyond the fun of the hunt the excitement of the hunt to the actual work of preparing The catch the animal for the table See there there's that extra step that takes some work and the lazy person Person is a quitter in the sense that he or she does not finish what they start Chapter 19 verse 24 one other verse on this and this is a comical one and some of these word pictures are extremely comical This one just goes to an extreme to show how lazy a lazy person may be A sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He will not even bring it back to his mouth You know he doesn't start well he doesn't finish what he starts Even when it comes to to eating you get your hand to the dish, but can't quite make it up to your mouth Now it's an extreme word picture, but the idea is simply he doesn't or she doesn't finish What here she starts? That's a characteristic of a sluggard now. I know That there are some of you who have the personality type of kind of you struggle with adult attention deficit disorder You know where you start one thing and then you jump to something else and you jump to something else and there are 20 unfinished projects around your house And right now you're getting real convicted Okay That doesn't I'm not necessarily saying that is laziness there are some personality types that just kind of Flip from one thing to another and they end up getting it all done at some point It's just that they don't really see one task to the finish before they start another one that that's okay That's not what I'm talking about this is talking about a person who has a history of a tendency of characteristic of always Starting something and then never finishing it They're gun hoe to jump into something, but then can't stick with it Can't really give the the focus concentration hard work to actually finish something Characteristic of laziness a third characteristic of laziness and we can all relate to this one is procrastination A sluggard in the book of Proverbs is a Procrastinator three verses first of all chapter 20 verse four Chapter 28 verse four Sluggards do not plow in season so at harvest time they look but find nothing the idea is there is a particular time period that you can get the the ground plow and ready tilled ready for planting if you don't jump on that and get it done during that window of time You're going to be looking at harvest and there's nothing there It's because the guy has procrastinated he missed his opportunity the opportune time And and obviously this would speak volumes and an agrarian culture in our culture it may be many other things We all know that there are many things in life that have a certain window of time Where you dig in and get this done or you're going to find yourself Looking back and wishing you had later on And that's that's the idea here Procrastinator putting things off chapter 22 verse 13 is the next one 22 13 the sluggard says there's a lion outside. I'll be killed in the public square Again, this is one of those dramatic ones that is humorous A lion out in the street you got to be kidding me. Are you serious Even in the even in the land of Israel lions although they were known were very uncommon and they typically dwelled Dwelled in the thickets along the river Jordan Not in a city not in a street in a city, but someone who procrastinates will always look for an excuse Why this can't be done Just procrastinating If there is no danger they will imagine a danger. Oh, there's probably going to be a lion out there in the street somewhere And I can't go out and get this done because there's danger out there Dreaming up some kind of danger if there is real danger they will often exaggerate that danger So that it is unlikely Inadvisable unwise for them to go ahead and get done what they need to get done You see the point It's basically putting off what needs to be done at Procrastinator one other verse chapter 27 verse 1 a familiar verse Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring We often think of that in terms of of spiritual things and it's a very good application of this verse Don't put off till tomorrow decisions for Christ Because you don't know if you'll have that opportunity tomorrow But the same thing is true of anything in life What you know the old saying don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today? That's where it comes from in this this verse Take the opportune time to get things done and don't continue to put off till tomorrow Because you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring you don't know what will happen So plug in and be diligent and get done today whatever we can get done characteristic of laziness Procrastinator and then one other This is a very interesting one A fourth characteristic of a lazy person is that they are wise in their own eyes In other words, they can explain away their laziness with some incredible reasoning Look at a couple of passages that talk about this. I mentioned we were going to come back to chapter 26 look at verse 16 A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly wiser in his own eyes Then seven people who can give sound reasons for a particular issue the point is this the sluggard the lazy person Will continually rationalize away their laziness. They are the last to see it because they've always got a reason for it There is always another way to look at things and always an explanation for what really is laziness In fact, you may have noticed this verses 13 through 16 all talk about the sluggard. He's mentioned in every verse And so these characteristics basically of a sluggard you can find a sluggard giving another reason for all four of these things Verse 13 a sluggard says there is a lion in the road a fierce lion roaming the streets And the sluggard will say I'm really not a shirk or a duty. I'm just a realist You know the world is a dangerous place And it is possible that this could happen it really could and so there'll be some reason why Some danger out there and you know people who want to be lazy can be very smart about coming up with reasons and excuses Why there's too much danger in moving forward to the point that they never get anything done Okay, so There's another reason there's always an explanation verse 14 is the door turns on its hinges So a sluggard turns on his bed. I'm really not self indulgent the sluggard will say I'm just not at my best in the morning So give me another half hour Give me another hour. Give me another hour and a half. Yeah, and so it goes Now please please don't get upset with me if you like snooze buttons Okay, that's not necessarily the point here. We'll give you 10 minutes. Okay, but not a half hour All right verse 15 a sluggard bearys his hand in the dish is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth And the sluggard will say I don't want to be pushed by anybody else's agenda. I work on my own timetable That's how he would explain this Not getting anything done. I don't want to everybody else setting the agenda for me I work at my own pace. I work on my own timetable and that's his rationalization. That's his excuse That's his that's how he's wise in his own eyes And then verse 16 as we saw before sluggard is wise or in his own eyes than seven people who answered discreetly Seven people can give a good reason for something and he will always Stit to his argument. Why? Well, I believe in sticking to my guns And that's his reasoning. He's always wiser in his own eyes than someone who could actually give a good answer Okay, those are the four characteristics of laziness in the book of Proverbs unwilling to work a quitter In other words doesn't finish what he starts He's a procrastinator and he can explain away every bit of his laziness Because he's wise in his own eyes Okay, the results of laziness one of the results of laziness. We're going to look at this fairly quickly a lazy person hurts others And hurts himself Or herself you understand the generic reference a lazy person hurts others and also hurts himself There's lots of verses on this, but I've just picked out some Representative ones look first of all on hurting others at chapter 10 and verse five chapter 10 and verse five He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son Now just as we have in our culture with the you know harvesting hay in the summer there there are two harvests in Israel The the first harvest is late spring early summer and that's your grain wheat barley all of the the grain type of crops the second harvest is in the Late fall and that would be your dates and figs and those kinds of things that would grow on trees and grapes and that kind of thing But he's talking here about the summer harvest of of wheat grain type of crops but this person Is an embarrassment to his own family You gather crops in summer you do it at the opportune time you're a prudent son He who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son you hurt your own family you hurt your family name You you embarrass your your parents is the point here so you hurt others by your own laziness a notice another verse chapter 20 or chapter 10 verse 26 26 and this is one of those very potent word pictures as vinegar to the teeth Oh, that's smarts and smoke to the eyes So are sluggards to those who send them Here's a person who is sent to do a task who is sent on an errand But because they are constantly procrastinating not finishing what they start unwilling to really apply themselves to work They are an irritation to anybody who's depending on them And so the the word pictures are very graphics like vinegar that sets your teeth on edge Where it's like smoke that gets in your eyes it's this person's an irritation Because they never complete what they're supposed to do they never get to what they need to do So an irritation to anyone that puts confidence in them one of the verse chapter 18 verse 9 on hurting others 18 9 one who is slack in his work His brother to one who destroys Interesting word picture He's a brother he's the next kin person who's lazy in his work or slack in his work is the next kin to somebody who destroys that work In other words, you're basically doing the same thing you're you're like the brother of the guy who just goes around destroying everybody's work Because you you hinder it getting done you you quit before it's done you are Procrastinating even getting it done and so it's just the same as destroying the work So you hurt others But most of the verses on the results of laziness in the book of Proverbs talk about hurting yourself Because laziness does hurt other people But it hurts you most of all Notice again Just I'm just gonna pick through these verses and then we'll draw a couple of conclusions chapter 6 verse 11 Remember the ant Remember the ant storing up remember looking at the ant learning from the ant Versus 10 and 11 a little sleep a little slumber little folding the hand stress and poverty will come on you like a thief and Scarsody like an armed man notice the the danger that is To you personally now look at 10 for good buddy Yeah, yeah, excuse me sorry about that chapter 10 verse 4 Chapter 10 verse 4 Lazy hands make for poverty but diligent hands bring wealth Okay, lazy hands will bring you poverty diligent hands will bring you wealth now you understand that the book of Proverbs are General observations about life. They are not promises There's a difference. This is wisdom literature. This is a particular genre or type of literature in the Bible it is not dogmatic teaching like paul's epistles. It is not promises. It is wisdom literature. It is general observations and principles of life All of which have exceptions So don't take these kinds of things as promises like okay if I work hard I get wealthy right god promise me that if I just Plime myself work hard. I'll be wealthy Now what he's saying is that generally if you're a lazy person and you don't work hard you end up poor If you work hard you can make something of yourself and you can you can gain a degree of wealth again That's their exceptions to that There are people who don't do anything and have wealth dumped into their laps By the way Proverbs talks a lot about that too the danger of that and there are people who work very very hard And never seem to get ahead so there are exceptions, but this is a general rule of life hard work industry leads To well-being financially, okay? So you hurt yourself if you don't Work hard chapter 12 verse 24. I mentioned I was going to fly through these verses chapter 12 verse 24 diligent hands will rule but laziness ends in forced labor very similar to the chapter 10 verse 4 the result is bad for you diligence leads toward improving yourself being recognized by others uh Advancing in your work Laziness ends in forced labor You you get the point there chapter 13 verse 4 13 for sluggards appetite is never filled but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied again the same idea You find your needs met if you're diligent It but a sluggard will never have his appetite field you'll always be craving for things in life, but not willing to work to get them Okay, that that's the point so it harms you chapter 14 verse 4 Where there are no oxen the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvest I love this proverb because it It's another one of those beautiful word pictures um If you don't have any oxen the manger is empty and the idea is that you got a real clean barn If what you want is a real clean beautiful Fragrant barn Then don't get any oxen don't stick oxen in there, but you know what If you want to work to provide a crop you're going to have to have some oxen which is going to be kind of messy at times So you messy people claim this is your life verse From the strength of an ox comes abundant harvest and I'll put up with the mess Because you've got to have some mess to get the work done, okay? That's the point the person who says well, I don't want a oxen messing up my barn. He's not going to have any harvest either Okay, not going to get any crops So you hurt yourself All right, where are we chapter 15 verse 19? 1519 the way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns But the path of the upright is a highway Very interesting word picture isn't I love these graphic word pictures in in the book of Proverbs the idea is that if if you are a sluggard then your way gets all tangled up And you can't make progress and a lot of it because of the things we saw before You never finish anything you don't want to really get started on anything You make little surrenders along the way that end up frittering away a lot of time and energy And so your way is just all tangled up and and the way of the diligent person is like a highway zoom You make progress you get stuff done Because you're diligent you keep at it you work hard, okay? 1915 1915 Lazyness brings on deep sleep and the shiftless go hungry Again, you hurt yourself if you are lazy You may get a lot more rest But you go hungry Again in that in that culture you don't work hard you don't get food You don't get anything out of the land All right, one other passage 21 verses 25 and 26 The Craving of a sluggard will be the death of him because his hands refuse to work all day long He craves for more but the righteous give without sparing and here the sluggard is compared to the righteous person The implication is the righteous person is going to be diligent and work hard and that person will have enough to give Whereas the sluggard will always be craving for what he needs but he's not willing to work for it. So he never gets it Okay So the the point I think is is pretty clear Uh a lazy person the sluggard is restless dissatisfied unhappy lack of fulfillment in life because they are not willing to work hard to achieve what needs to be achieved in life By the way, God's promises to us are never to promote laziness It is sheer presumption to expect God to provide and supply our needs if we are not diligently working You know God uses the efforts and the abilities he's given us To be his instrument of providing for us You know, I love the book of Ruth and in the book of Ruth um You know they're they're seeking God for about how to provide for their needs and What ends up happening is that Ruth goes out and cleans in the fields to provide their needs And that's the way God provided that was hard work That was doing everything you can to scrape together the leftovers from the field and get enough And then you had to threshold out and prepare it and that that was an all day long job And uh wasn't easy and that's how God provided for them You know sometimes we don't recognize God's provision because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work So God provides for us through work we we are presumptuous if we expect God to and we pray and God please meet my needs But we're not willing to work to To be his own instrument of providing those needs and obviously in a farming culture That would be very clear to people you don't work You don't eat Okay, so the results of laziness now the alternative just very quickly Is diligence and I'm just going to look at uh Two passages and we'll leave it at that there are lots of them, but just go back to chapter four Chapter four there to be diligent obviously the opposite of laziness The word diligence Literally the Hebrew word means to dig a trench or to dig out gold from the earth So figuratively the the idea of diligence is to be determined To be eager to be faithful to stick with it to work hard in other words Now there are four areas in chapter four that Solomon says we should give diligence to and by the way This is not just your work. This is your life And if you give diligence to these four areas of your life your work will take care of itself Your work will be the fruit of it and what he does is he uses parts of the body It's almost like a medical exam and he uses parts of the body that you should give diligence to give attention to be diligent about these things Notice what he says in verse 23 here's the first one he says above all else guard your heart For everything you do flows from it And the Old Testament the heart was the inner person the real you it was your mind emotion will It was not just the seed of the emotions. That's what we think of as the heart But the heart in the Old Testament was the real inner person everything you are on the inside and what Solomon is saying is guard that earnestly Egrally faithfully Make sure you cultivate and work hard at keeping your heart right Obviously that means right with God and right Before him and and in the word and in prayer So give attention to your heart be diligent about developing your heart Okay, and you thought diligence was all just about okay go to work and give it your best well includes that But if you take care of these four things then the work will take care of itself Start with your heart, okay? Then secondly verse 24 move to your mouth Verse 24 keep your mouth free of Proversity keep corrupt talk far from your lips. So he's talking about our speech now be diligent to learn to work on your speech to control your tongue Okay, and then the third area Move now to your eyes Let your eyes look straight ahead fix your gaze directly before you Now the idea of letting your eyes look straight ahead. There's a literal aspect to that obviously of not giving Way to temptation But but the real idea of letting your eyes look straight ahead fixing your gaze directly before you is to to Think of goals think of the future look into the future and be diligent about planning for the future Thinking about the future don't just let happen whatever is going to happen Prepare yourself for today and tomorrow and next week work ahead Plan do some things that will give you clear vision In the future keep your eyes keep your eyes straight ahead Fix your gaze directly before you and those don't be so Distracted by everything around you you keep your focus on on what's ahead of you That's that's the idea and then the fourth part of the body that he uses is your feet verse 26 Give careful thought to the pads for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways Do not turn to the right or the left keep your foot from evil the idea here is our actions Okay, you start with the heart Then you deal with speech then you deal with goals and keeping your eyes on on what's ahead of you Then you deal with your feet which deals Basically is talking about our actions the pads that we walk in Day by day the actions that we choose is the idea Think and plan about those actions get careful thought he says To the pads for your feet what you're going to do your actions for the day in other words One of the key elements and you know time management people know this and they write books on this one of the key elements Of diligence is to plan your work Don't just let it happen plan what you're going to do Set a schedule plan and agenda do you know and obviously it's gonna get blown out of the water in 15 minutes and you adjust to that But you plan what you're going to do that's exactly what he's talking about here Give careful thought to the pads for your feet be steadfast in all your ways in other words stick to that You know don't get deterred easily Obviously you need to be aware of what's happening around you and don't just stick numbly to that but But steadfast be be steadfast that don't turn to the right or the left Keep your foot from evil. He makes the application to moral things there Especially when it deals with evil don't be distracted don't take this little bypass and this little You know path over here stick on the path that you know is the right one So what he's talking about here is a diligent person will first of all keep their heart right with God Give diligence to the spiritual part of life and then you will give diligence to controlling your speech directing your speech making decisions based on what What lies out in the future and you want to do and be and progress toward in the future and then day by day planning your work The pads that your feet are going to to walk in that is diligence That's a beautiful biblical description of diligence It applies in farming as it did in that culture It applies in every vocation and it applies in all of life start with giving diligence to your heart And then give diligence to your mouth and to your eyes and to your feet And you will find yourself overcoming laziness And then one final thing and that is the blessings that come the alternative to laziness is diligence In those four areas and then the blessings that come um I'll just refer you back to chapter six in the ant You know the ant sitting in their little hole in the ground in the winter time wherever they are um they they They have what they need They're being well-provided for well taken care of Why? Because they worked hard in the summer to get it all in the ground And so they're ready So the blessing of diligence is that you are prepared for the future Well, let's all go home and just pray a lot after being convicted about laziness, okay? Interesting study and I think in in the book of Proverbs Proverbs such a fascinating book true to life, isn't it Very true to life and that's the way this book is about everything Let's pray Father, we thank you for the instruction of your word may we take it to heart Lord, may we be diligent rather than lazy? Maybe we understand the characteristics of laziness and spot them in our lives when we see them creeping in We're all sinners. We all struggle with that So help us lord to um to spot those signs and to deal with them before they become routine character patterns I pray Father that you would help us to give our hearts to diligence and to be the kind of People in regard to those areas of our lives that we've talked about tonight that are diligent and faithful And most of all pray that we'll do this not for our own benefit or self-advancement But you would be glorified in our lives. We pray in Jesus name