Vv 33,34: "The worst of sluggards only ask for a little
slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A
little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of
reasons to show that this indulgence is a very proper one. Yet by these littles
the day ebbs out, and the time for labour is all gone, and the field is grown
over with thorns.
"It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls.
They have no intention to delay for years -- a few months will bring the more
convenient season -- tomorrow if you will, they will attend to serious things;
but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg
to be excused. Like sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by
driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers.
"Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments
on the wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty
of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty. Like a traveller steadily pursuing
his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided:
each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is
on his master's business and must not tarry. As an armed man enters with
authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and death to the
impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men were wise betimes, and would
seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it
will be too late to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In
harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected" (CHS).
"Here the literal meaning is obvious enough and there is no
difficulty in applying the description just as it stands. The main danger of
wrong application would be from those who have had little experience of gardens.
They might judge a man as slothful when he had only been away for a short
holiday or a few days of illness. The garden, however, is only an illustration,
and there are lessons in this rapid growth of weeds. Wherever the surface of the
soil presents itself seeds will fall and weeds will grow. Wherever there is
unoccupied surface of mind, impressions will be made and thoughts will develop.
Wrong thoughts seem as hardy as weeds while right thoughts are like rare and
tender plants. Just as weeds, unless they are eradicated in the early stages
will quickly run to seed and increase the evil, so it is with wrong thoughts in
the mind" (PrPr).
Pro 24:34
LIKE A BANDIT: Moving swiftly: cp Pro 6:11; Psa
104:3.