Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
Scott Hubbard wants you to know four things about the Bible’s portrait of a sluggard:
Hubbard does a great job correlating the teaching of Proverbs on the character of the sluggard. In the process, Hubbard models terrific head and heart application.
You’ve gotta check out this blog post by Dan Phillips at Pyromaniacs. He walks through Proverbs 6:1-19, showing how his understanding of the text unfolded as he observed more and more carefully. He noticed the structure, and the way the passage hangs together around the three progressively bad kinds of fool.
And his careful observation leads him to many of the same conclusions I drew about this text and these three kinds of fool.
I highly recommend it, if you’re up for a fun journey. Check it out!
Simon Lutz (2013), Creative Commons
For a few weeks, I’ve been examining three kinds of fool from Prov 6:1-19: the Savior, the Sluggard, and the Sower of Discord. To help you avoid them in the new year, I’d like to consider how they’re all connected.
Most foreign aid has done great harm to the Third World. Rather than helping the poor to have a better life, it has created a culture of dependence where people realize they don’t actually have to work hard to improve their communities. They just have to find a Western official who will give them a handout. So we put Band-Aids on cancerous tumors and perpetuate the injustice, instead of supporting useful organizations that educate people and train them in beneficial skills. We rescue hurting people in the name of world peace.
Coincidentally, we can do the same thing at home. How many relationships consist of the “Savior” who shields the “Sluggard” from his choices? Parents allow their perfectly healthy sons to live with them into their late 20s or early 30s. Teachers adjust the curve so no student will be left behind. Managers perpetuate the status quo rather than dealing with problem people on the team; it might be too awkward to confront them, after all. Church leaders dedicate most of their time to procedural minutiae or unteachable committee members, while turning a blind eye to the rampant gossip and slander ripping apart the community of God’s children.
And if someone has the courage to deal with such problems biblically, “Sowers of Discord” come out of the woodwork with their “concerns” at such an “unloving” approach. So godly people run in fear and perpetuate the evil.
We get into tidy patterns of behavior that reinforce our folly, and then we mistake our comfort for success in serving Christ.
Every once in a while, however, a ray of light from God’s Word pierces the cycle and exposes the issues. It feels like things get worse, because all the patterns we were used to stop working. It’s easy to see such moments as disruptive or even harmful to our lives. But I challenge you to see those moments for what they are: the opportunity for new life. Before resurrection, there must be death. Put the fool in you to death, and live anew in Christ every day.
Sometimes we think we’re on the right path as long as we avoid the big areas of folly, like easy money and easy sex. But God cares about the details, and some of those details are more destructive than we realize. Pieces of the Savior, the Sluggard, and the Sower of Discord reside in every one of us. Part of wisdom is learning how to discern the folly so we can turn to Christ, set the folly aside, and avoid its consequences.
Question: How do you see the three fools in your own heart?
The Sluggard is the second of three fools in Prov 6:1-19.
Are you the Sluggard? Can the ant teach you how to be self-motivated and seasonally productive?
You might be the Sluggard if you:
None of these things necessarily makes you the Sluggard. But if there’s a pattern, you may be in danger. Ask others if they think you work hard enough on the top priorities.
Are you ready to make the changes necessary to labor fruitfully for the Lord? Solomon tells you how.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,
And poverty will come upon you like a robber,
And want like an armed man (Prov 6:9-11, ESV).
John Morgan (2010), Creative Commons
“How long will you lie there?” “When will you arise from your sleep?” The answer Solomon seeks is not primarily a length of time, but a confession of motivation. If you are not motivated to work hard at what God has called you to, why not? What else motivates you to sit still and waste your time? Why do you love surfing the Internet for hours on end? Why do you watch so much TV? What do you get out of it, and is it working for you? Why do the weeks and months and years tick by, with not much to show for your life’s labor?
God sent Jesus to die so he wouldn’t have to go through the rest of eternity without you. Why are you more interested in yourself than in anything else?
No one decides to ruin his life all in one day. An investor doesn’t look for the worst possible stock to buy. A retailer doesn’t open a store in the belief that there’s no market for his goods. And a sluggard doesn’t decide up front to be lazy, unproductive, or ineffective. It’s the minute-to-minute choices that ruin him: “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.”
A few minutes surfing channels becomes a few hours. A quick break from something hard leads to complete procrastination. A short nap evolves into a lifestyle of irregular sleep habits.
The solution to a life of laziness is not to write out an all-encompassing life plan. The solution is to train yourself to make different choices. Small choices add up to weighty habits, for good or ill. Figure out one next step, and then take it. Then take the next. And the next. Before you know it, you’ll be walking the path of wisdom, on your way to life and hope and influence and satisfaction.
If you trust in Jesus, not even your laziness can thwart his commitment to giving you eternal life. But it can make the journey there much more painful. “Poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Where do you rely on others to tell you what to do? They’ll stop trusting you, and you’ll never find the freedom you really want.
Where have you consistently had lack? Where do you keep relying on others to bail you out? Here’s a secret: It probably won’t change until you change. In fact, you might be surprised by how poverty, hunger, and lack of resources will ambush you and perpetually hold you captive.
Jesus came for the weak and lowly, not the influential. He worked hard so we could find our true rest. He is changing the world, and he includes us in the process. He won’t let us remain idle. He dumps his work in our laps until we understand that hard work is good for us.
And remember that Jesus died for sluggards. If you keep making little choices that render you unfruitful and ineffective, he’s not ready to give up on you. If you love him, he promises to conform you to his image, and he won’t ever let you succeed at avoiding the work of his Kingdom.
Question: Are you the sluggard? What will you do about it?
The second of Solomon’s three fools is the Sluggard. “Sluggard” is an old-fashioned word for lazy-bones or couch potato, and such people existed long before video games or social media. This person loves to have fun. The Sluggard is usually behind on something, but he runs out of time before he can get to it. This person is often incredibly busy. This person is a great friend to have, but not the best teammate or project partner. The Sluggard doesn’t know how to produce stuff, but he knows how to get it from others who produce it for him (be it the Church, the welfare office, or his parents).
I am this fool. If you’re honest, you probably are, too.
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
Consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
Officer, or ruler,
She prepares her bread in summer
And gathers her food in harvest (Prov 6:6-8, ESV).
Sancho McCann (2010), Creative Commons
Solomon commands the Sluggard to pay attention to the world. By noticing a few things about insignificant ants, he might, in fact, become wise.
First, consider how ants are self-motivated (Prov 6:7). They don’t need a supervisor cracking a whip over them. They don’t need their moms to remind them to take out the trash. They don’t need deadlines or micro-management to get the job done. They don’t have drill sergeants shouting in their faces. They move forward, doing what they ought to do. They out-perform the competition and can be relied upon to carry out top priorities. If they struggle to understand how they fit into the big picture, they don’t blame others for failing to give them enough purpose. They go after it for themselves.
Second, consider how ants are seasonally productive (Prov 6:8). They know when to work and when to play. They know what work should be done today, and what work can be put off until tomorrow. They don’t wait for winter to hit before they begin stocking the shelves. They don’t stay up late on April 14th to finish filing their taxes. They’re aware of how much legwork goes into a task, and they plan far enough in advance to get it all done.
These two values—motivation and productivity—will convert any comatose dawdler into an influential laborer for God’s Kingdom.
In my college years, I ricocheted between laziness and workaholism until a mentor challenged me to view my schoolwork as a job. He encouraged me to set “business hours,” within which I would do all my classes and homework—and nothing else. When business hours ended, I could set the work aside and spend time investing in my relationships with God and other people. As I employed the counsel of this fatherly “ant,” I discovered that it was not only possible but also invigorating to live such a disciplined life. I had no guilt when 6:00pm arrived and I put my textbooks away to have dinner with a friend. I took an entire day each week to worship the Lord and rest in him, which freed me to become involved in my church. My stress level at exam time was much lower, and my investment in the Kingdom of God was much higher.
Question: How can you be more self-motivated or seasonally productive?
In recent years, I’ve learned that much of parenting involves helping the children learn not to do dumb stuff that hurts themselves and others. One child destroys every tower and confiscates every treasure, then wonders why no other children want to play together. Another child leaps from couch to coffee table and back again, wondering how far the gap can widen before something bad happens. Yet another finds a bag of sweets, devours the entirety in secret, and moans over the ensuing tummy ache.
One glorious incident involved our basement’s air hockey table. One child, who was typically more curious than a PhD candidate, wraps the table’s electrical cord around the rear axle of a big wheel. This child then mounts the vehicle, hits the gas, and begins taking measurements. I’m not sure which hypothesis was being tested, but the experiment resulted in our household inventory becoming minus one air hockey table. And that child went on basement probation for a few weeks.
I scratch my head at these kids until I realize I’m no different. I do dumb things and act surprised when they don’t turn out well. I’ve already written of the time I photocopied my hindquarters at summer camp. With a broken machine, a gash on my thigh, and a humiliating confession behind me, a camp legend was born. Even today, I stay up too late at night and wonder why I’m too tired to carry out important tasks the next day. I belittle my wife in public and get upset when she’s not affectionate with me in private.
Solomon wrote Proverbs 6 to help fools like us: those in danger of harming themselves and ruining the people they love.
Jon Gales (2007), Creative Commons
Now most people read Proverbs for its practical advice. They crave cuts of beefy counsel to sink their teeth into. They want help with their finances or career path or relationships, but by the end of Proverbs 5, these spiritual carnivores feel like the steakhouse is always under construction and never open for business. So in Proverbs 6, Solomon finally serves up dense shanks for thoughtful chewing.
Proverbs 6:1-19 digresses from the big-picture framework of wisdom to portray three specific kinds of fool. The “Savior” tries to rescue needy people himself rather than pointing them to Jesus (Prov 6:1-5). The “Sluggard” makes a series of lazy choices that take him farther and farther from the Lord (Prov 6:6-11). The “Sower of Discord” breaks up the body of Christ, risking God’s condemnation, which could be atoned for by the broken body of Christ (Prov 6:12-19).
This section is unique in Prov 1-9 in that it doesn’t contain a command to listen. Did Solomon omit the command because his audience should have internalized it by now? He’s given enough theory; now he gets painfully specific. And the assumed question hangs in the background: Will you listen to instruction, even if it hurts to do so?
Question: Which of the three fools can you relate with?
