Proverbs 19:15
Slothfulness and Hunger
A. Slothfulness Defined:
1. Sluggishness, laziness.
2. Dict. of Bib. Lang.: a state of extreme inactivity or idleness, showing a lack of discipline and initiative, as a moral failure.
a. Note the distinction—as a MORAL failure.
b. Obviously, this does not refer to the slowness or inactivity that is the result of old age or infirmity.
3. Prov. 6:6, 9 – It is a moral failure—less wise than an ant!
B. A Deep Sleep
1. Casts: to fall prostrate; prostrate oneself before; bow down; settle down.
2. Deep Sleep: deep sleep; trance; lethargy; listlessness; apathy.
3. Usage:
a. Gen. 2:21- God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and He took of his rib and made the woman.
b. Gen. 15:12 – God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abraham when God came down and passed through the midst of the animals cut in half—when God emphasized to Abraham the fact that the Abrahamic covenant was unilateral.
c. I Sam. 26:12 – A deep sleep God put over Saul’s soldiers when David went into their camp and took the cruse of water and a spear.
d. Isa. 29:10 – God poured out a deep sleep on the false prophets.
e. It is used almost exclusively (except for a passage in Job) of a deep sleep that the LORD imposed upon men… not your ordinary sleep.
4. Solomon chose an especially STRONG term to describe the deep sleep of the slothful man.
a. Whether he intended to imply that this sleep was a judicial judgment of God against their activity or not is not clear.
b. It doesn’t SAY that… but the unusual term he chose to describe their “sleep” may suggest it.
c. In other words, it may be a judicial judgment pronounced by God against such laziness… OR it may be the natural consequences of such laziness.
d. There may be a little overlapping of the two—in light of God’s providential dealings in the ordinary lives of men.
e. Either way, Solomon states that a very deep and serious form of lethargy and apathy are the result of slothfulness…
f. It is almost as if the person were in a trance—a trance that he CHOSE to enter into.
g. One man spoke of it as an “unconscious oblivion.”
5. The effect is something similar to a downward spiral.
a. The man is lazy and slothful and doesn’t DO what he’s supposed to do…
b. As a result, he becomes accustomed to not doing much…
c. And in that condition, he grows tired and sluggish easily…
d. He looses his initiative… apathy sets in…
e. And he arrives in a state (almost a trance) where it becomes extremely hard to get through to him… of the seriousness of his condition!
f. One thing leads to another… and it becomes very difficult for him to change his ways… they are so deeply entrenched.
g. Prov. 5:22 – His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
h. He can become TRAPPED in this lazy lifestyle.
i. Parents do their kids no favor by doing everything FOR them.
j. Kids can learn responsibility and develop a work ethic at a young age.
k. OR they can develop the bad habit of laziness… procrastination… slothfulness… and become couch potatoes at a young age too.
6. The sluggard is inventive with his excuses for his laziness.
a. Prov. 22:13 – he comes up with all kinds of excuses—a lion might eat me!
b. Prov. 20:4 – he always has a reason why he “can’t” work now.
• His work is thus never done on time.
• He procrastinates. Puts things off.
• Work piles up—and he feels inundated and overwhelmed.
• The work piles up like a mountain before him, and he thinks it impossible to move a mountain… so he doesn’t try.
• And the mountain continues to grow… and he sinks in deeper… and he feels justified in not attempting. Why bother? I’ll never move that mountain.
• And it’s all his own fault. He LET things pile up… he LET things go to seed… and rot. He ends up with nothing…
A. The Lazy Person
1. Idle defined:
a. Laxness, slackness, slackening, deceit, treachery.
b. A condition of slowness and sluggishness to do an activity.
c. This is used as a virtual synonym for slothfulness in the first part of the proverb.
2. Soul here is used in the sense of a person… hence, an idle, lazy person.
B. The Consequences
1. In the first part of the proverb Solomon describes the trance or the stupor—the state of the lazy person.
2. Now he suggests that there are serious built-in, personal consequences to his laziness, namely, HUNGER.
3. Note that God gives a clear warning here: laziness results in hunger.
a. Hunger is a good thing.
b. Hunger hurts. It captures your attention. When you are really hungry, it’s hard to think of anything else.
c. Hunger can eventually kill a person. We need food. Food is not an option. It is a must.
d. God in His wisdom caused the human body to feel hungry… and He caused that feeling to become overwhelming when the need is not met.
4. Hunger is good on a couple of levels.
a. First, if we didn’t feel hunger, we would forget to eat…
• We need our three meals a day… and if we miss one, we feel it. That is good for us.
• Our body is talking to us… making sure we meet that need.
b. Secondly, hunger is good because it is a great incentive to WORK!
• Laziness… a refusal to work leads to hunger… which hurts.
• Hunger is designed to work something like physical pain.
» If you step on a piece of glass and cut your foot, it hurts—right away! You feel the pain.
» That pain serves a most valuable purpose… it instantly gets your attention SO THAT you do something about the problem at hand—glass shards stuck in your foot!
» If you didn’t feel the pain, you might not realize the problem, and it would not be taken care of right away.
» A much worse condition could set in.
• The PAIN of hunger OUGHT to instantly get the attention of the lazy person.
» It should cause the person to see the folly of his laziness…
» It should cause him to get up and DO something about it… take care of the problem.
• II Thess. 3:10 – “If any would not work, neither should he eat.”
» Here too hunger is described as a built in incentive to work.
» And if a man WILL not work—neither SHOULD he eat.
» Note the word “will” – it speaks of a man’s willingness.
→ This is not describing the man who wants to work but cannot find a job.
→ This does not describe a man who wants to work, but he is sick and unable to.
→ This is a man who is able to work but unwilling.
» Note also the word “should” – which often carries with it a moral obligation.
→ He SHOULD not eat.
→ It is not right for him to eat.
→ It is not right for him to receive free food… which someone else labored for.
→ It is good for him to suffer hunger.
→ The pain of hunger… going without his needs should trigger an incentive in him to DO something about his situation—to get up and get a job, or do whatever it takes.
5. Welfare is one of the WORST things we can inflict on someone.
a. The motives are good. It stems from pity and compassion which are good in their place.
b. Helping someone in need IS good.
c. But helping someone who is in need because they WILL not work is not love. It is NOT what is best for that person.
d. Free food or free money sounds great, but it is a miserable trap.
e. I would like to see us double or quadruple the amount of money we give to people on welfare… IF we could weed out those who are lazy and unwilling to work… and those who lie and cheat and take advantage of the system.
5. Other consequences to idleness and slothfulness too.
a. Ecc. 10:18 – It also destroys your property.
b. Prov. 21:25 – Constantly coveting… and it KILLS him!
• It eats away at him. There is no joy.
• He lives in that trance… a kind of dream world, with lots of dreams and wishes, but no action.
• He may well regret his laziness, but doesn’t DO anything about it…
c. Prov. 13:4 – A miserable life—constantly wishing you had what others had… constant envy… discontentedness… and to make it even worse, the added burden of GUILT… knowing it was your own fault!
d. Prov. 26:14 – He can’t sleep at night—because of a guilty conscience.
e. Prov. 20:13 – Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. (also – Prov.6:9-11; 10:4)
• I have met lazy, slothful believers—nice people—but lazy.
• I would never hire them if I owned a business… for that very reason—lazy!
f. Prov. 12:24 – He shall be under tribute… forced labor… like slavery… working for peanuts… taken advantage of by wealthy landowners… because the lazy man has no job… no rainy day fund… he has no recourse.
g. Prov. 26:13–16 – He THINKS himself to be wise… usually smarter than everyone else who works hard.
6. It is a pity to see a man suffer the consequences of slothfulness in his earthly life.
a. It is far worse to see a man suffer the consequences of slothfulness in his spiritual life!
b. There are a LOT of lazy Christians.
c. There are believers too lazy to open the Bible each day…
d. There are believers who don’t come to prayer meeting because they are lazy. They’re always too tired. So am I—and you are too… but you came. I think there might be a lot of stuttering and stammering at the Bema seat when the question is asked, “Why didn’t you go to prayer meeting?”
e. There are believers too lazy to minister in the Body… too lazy to minister to one another… but they sure expect to BE ministered to when they need it!
f. They are too lazy to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling.
g. They too will HUNGER… and not be able to eat the Bread of life their souls need. They will thirst… and find no water of life to satisfy.
h. They are wasting their spiritual lives.
i. The funny thing about spiritual laziness is—that some folks who are spiritually lazy are often VERY diligent in the things of this life… they take good care of their things… their business… but never seem to have time or energy left over for the things of the Lord.
j. Physical poverty is bad enough. Spiritual poverty is an eternal waste.