May 28
A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly. (26: 13– 16)
SLOTH DOESN’T FACE THINGS.
This portrait of the slothful is a satire. They exaggerate the danger of doing things—“ There may be a lion in the road!” They are as tightly attached to their leisure as a door to its hinges. The effort of eating exhausts them too much to finish.
But the theme running through all this is a tragic blindness. These verses paint the sluggard’s features in such broad strokes in order to make the point that he is completely unable to see them. “He is not a shirker but a ‘realist’ ([ Proverbs 26:] 13); not self-indulgent but ‘below his best in the morning’ (14); his inertia is ‘an objection to being hustled’ (15); his mental indolence a fine ‘sticking to his guns’ (16).” 124 His excuses look ridiculous to everyone else (verse 13) but not to him (verse 16). As with all other kinds of fools, there is the problem of denial, because sluggards are wise in their own eyes. They cannot face things and, especially, they cannot face what they have become.
Q. What are your “go-to” excuses when you really simply don’t want to tackle a difficult task?
Prayer:
Lord, this proverb exaggerates the excuses of the lazy person, but I detect milder forms in me when I am avoiding hard things. I think of them now and they are embarrassing, but they won’t be easy to give up because they feel like protection. Give me the courage to put them aside. Amen.
Keller, Timothy; Keller, Kathy. God's Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs (Kindle Locations 2775-2790). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.