1. “Bring it again” = reverse direction; bring back; restore; put back; cause to return.

a. In other words, here is a man who buries his hand in the dish, presumably to draw out some food to eat.

b. However, he is SO incredibly lazy, that he won’t even bring the food up to his mouth to eat it!

c. Obviously, this is hyperbole… an exaggeration to make a point.

d. His point is that this man is REALLY lazy!

2. The POINT Solomon makes is that this man is SO lazy that he lacks what it takes to follow through with what he started.

a. He started to get something to eat… but he didn’t follow through.

b. He stuck his hand in the bowl to draw out some food, but he never finished the job… he didn’t follow through… and thus he never brought his hand back to his mouth to actually eat it!

c. He is so lazy he would rather starve than work.

d. That is exactly what the New Testament says he deserves! If a man will not work, neither should he eat. (II Thess. 3:10)

3. A man sticks his hand in the dish because he is hungry.

a. He knows WHAT his need is: food. He sees his need.

b. He knows WHERE the food is and he knows HOW to get it.

c. He started to get the job done… he stuck his hand in the bowl.

d. But he didn’t follow through. He didn’t FINISH the job.

e. Thus, he remained hungry. The need was never met.

4. This is a proverb that demonstrates through hyperbole the need to follow through on a project that you start… and the consequences of not following through.

a. Solomon traces the ROOT of this problem back to slothfulness.

b. Prov. 26:15 – the very same proverb.
• However, here is added the REASON he does not bring his hand back: “grieved.”
• Grieved = emotional weariness; worn out emotionally; wearied.
• Dict. of Bib. Lang.: Defines “grieved” emotionally tired, i.e., be in a state which will manifest negative emotions or attitudes such as impatience or discouragement.
• Ezek. 24:12 – She hath wearied herself with lies.
• Isa. 1:14 – Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
• He’s too tired!

c. The real pitiful thing to note is that what he needs is right there before him! It is within reach… but he refuses to reach!
• He COULD have the food in the bowl… but he’s too lazy.
• This is the way of most lazy people.
• What they need is right there before them… within their reach… and with just a little effort it could be theirs!
• That’s the point here. Just a little more effort… a little more follow through… and it would all be theirs.
• But they won’t take that last step… it’s too hard. They come up with all kinds of excuses.
• The picture here Solomon paints is a man who is so lazy he expects the food is just going to fall into his mouth! It doesn’t work that way.

5. Prov. 15:19 – The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns.

a. Here Solomon states that the way of a lazy man is all hedged in.

b. He is surrounded by a hedge of thorns: obstacles everywhere!

c. That’s all he sees… a hedge on every side… like a huge maze…

d. He may FEEL trapped… he sees no open doors… everywhere he looks he is hedged in.

e. He may feel that life is just too hard…

f. This is the thinking of the lazy man… the quitter…

g. But Solomon implies here that he is hedged in BECAUSE of his own slothfulness.

h. Consider the example of the two students: one lazy and one diligent.
• They both leave school and walk down the same pathway in life.
• As they walk down that pathway, the lazy classmate will find many closed doors—hedged in; while his hard working classmate finds many open doors.
• The lazy man finds many obstacles to his progress… hedges of thorns… but they are often obstacles of his own making!
• This is the WAY of the slothful man.

i. This “way of life” very quickly turns into a “poor me” attitude.
• Nothing ever goes right for me… woe is me…
• Everybody else always seems to get all the breaks, but not me! I never have any luck.

j. Then the “victim” mentality sets in.
• It’s the government’s fault. They should have a program for me.
• I DESERVE something better than this…
• Everybody is against me… the cards are all stacked against me.
• If the kids in the third grade didn’t pick on me so much, I never would have had such a hard time in life…

6. But Proverbs 19:24 calls that man’s bluff.

a. This proverb says that the REAL reason that he goes without is because he lacks what it takes to follow through with whatever he starts.

b. He did well in high school, but quit. Too much homework.

c. He went from job to job…

d. Then he got a pretty decent job, making a good salary, but didn’t stick it out.
• They wanted him to learn to use a computer, and he didn’t want to take the course.
• It was on a Friday night, and he liked to have fun on Friday nights. Work was crimping his lifestyle.
• Because he didn’t learn the needed skill, they had to let him go.

e. He tried to get another good job, but the personnel department didn’t like what they saw on his resume: “worked for six months here, a year there, four months at his next job, a year and two months there…”

f. And the personnel department wasn’t interested in listening to his endless list of excuses. They weren’t like dad and mom. They saw his record and said quite snappily, “No thank you.”

g. So he strikes out again… and becomes more and more emotionally worn out… drained… weary, discouraged… and quits again and again.

h. What he OUGHT to do is humble himself, take an entry-level job, and stick with it… and PROVE himself finally… and work his way up—like everybody else.

i. In other words, FOLLOW THROUGH on whatever you start!

7. The man in Solomon’s proverb was SO lazy, that he didn’t even follow through on something that was really quite EASY: eating!

a. And when you don’t follow through, your needs are not met.

b. You can stick your hand in a bowl full of food, but if you don’t follow through and bring it to your mouth, you will still be hungry.

c. This is a SERIOUS issue Solomon raises here—in a comical way: people who make a halfhearted effort.

d. This man did half the work. He did bury his hand in the bowl of goodies. But it didn’t do him any good. It didn’t satisfy his hunger at all.

e. Going half way doesn’t work.
• You don’t win a marathon by being first to cross the half way point. You have to FINISH.
• If a company requires a four year degree for the job you want, going to college for two years and quitting won’t get you in the door that you wanted to enter.
• If the doctor says you have to take your medicine every day… and you take it every other day, or whenever you feel like it, you won’t get the right result.

8. The same principle is true in the spiritual life as well.

a. This might just be the number ONE reason why Christians fail and falter in their walk… why they don’t experience victory: because they don’t follow through on what they started.

b. In a problem with a brother in the Lord. The Bible says, “Turn the other cheek.” He tried it, but it didn’t work. The brother is still mean to him… so he quit trying.

c. Or the husband who is having a spat with his wife. The pastor exhorts him to “Love your wife as Christ loved the church.” Too often the response is, “I tried it, but it didn’t work!”

d. Or a believer is trying to deal with a boss who constantly yells. The Bible says, “A soft answer turns away wrath.”

e. All too often believers get good advice from a brother in the Lord—right from the Scripture. And with the best of intentions, they start off well… but they don’t follow through! They quit mid stream.

f. The Bible doesn’t say turn the other cheek, and if that doesn’t work, try something else. Nor does it say use a soft answer two or three times, and if that does work, then look for another solution.

g. When the principles in God’s Word don’t seem to work for you, it’s not because they are ineffective. It’s because you quit too soon.

h. We tend to put in a half hearted effort. We really try at first (like putting your hand in the bowl of food), but then we don’t follow through… we don’t finish the job.

i. Thus, we don’t experience the victory or satisfaction… like the man with his hand in the bowl is still hungry.

j. The word of God is like that bowl. It is set right before us all… within reach. All we have to do is take of it and eat. Yet, as absurd as this proverb, we are often too lazy to eat… and we suffer spiritual hunger as a result.

k. This proverb is an extremely absurd one. When we read it, we immediately think, NOBODY could be that lazy… that stupid. But lo and behold. We do the same thing in the spiritual realm.