Proverbs 24:30-34

The Sluggard's Field: A Man Void of Understanding

0:00 Proverbs 24, this is one of the classic passages on the sluggard. When people think of the sluggard, this is one of the passages to which they most often turn, at least in their minds, if not actually in their Bibles. Verse 30, I went by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man, void of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns.

0:27 The face thereof was covered with nettles, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I beheld, and considered well, I saw, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man. Now Solomon says that he was out taking a walk one day, and he came by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard, and notice the parallel term for the sluggard, a man void of understanding.

1:09 A sluggard is a man void of understanding. He's not in touch with the real world.

1:15 Void of understanding is the sluggard. The sluggard is the man void of understanding. So he tells us about his walk and where he went. And he went by the field of the sluggard.

1:27 The vineyard of the man void of understanding. Now he describes what he saw. Verse 31. And lo, it was all grown over with thorns.

1:40 Anything that might have been a productive crop had long since been choked out by a system of thorns and of other wild vetches, as it's called in the margin of the 1901. We would say all kinds. We would say all kinds of wild, unproductive, choking underbrush. The face thereof was covered with metals, and the stone wall, that which should protect it from outside intruders and predators, was broken down.

2:13 So he says, I went for a walk, and I went by the field of the sluggard. Now he tells us what he saw. A field totally overgrown with thorns and thistles and underbrush that would choke any productive...

Solomon's Instruction: The Subtle Nature of Sluggardliness

2:27 commodity coming out of that field and furthermore, the wall was broken down. Well, he didn't simply observe that and say, too bad. But as a wise father, seeking to learn lessons about life that he might pass them on to his son, he says, then I beheld and considered well, I saw and received instruction. I let what I see register at the cognitive faculty, in the cognitive faculty, I let what I see register at the cognitive faculty, in the cognitive faculty, I let what I see register at the cognitive faculty, in the cognitive faculty, I let what I see register at the cognitive faculty, in the cognitive faculty, and I drew a certain conclusion.

3:00 And here's the conclusion he came to. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as a robber and thy want as an armed man. The same terminology used in verse 34 is found in chapter 6 and verse 11 concerning laziness. And what he learned was this.

3:23 Here is a field rendered totally unclean, unproductive, a field from which no food will be gleaned, from which no produce can be gathered and sold, and by fair exchange turned into such commodities as a winter jacket, shoes, a car, a home. And he says, what I learned was this. As the slugger just overslept on Monday, and the part of the field that was marked out to be weeded out, he weeded on Monday, got left undone. And then he overslept a little on Tuesday.

4:02 Over the course of months, it didn't happen at once, a little slumber, a little sleep, that allowed a few weeds here and a few nettles there, and a loose stone here and a loose stone there, the end result over time was just as devastating as if in one night a robber came to the door, held the man up, stripped him of all of his goods, all of his savings, and all of his possessions. Just as devastating. So shall thy poverty come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man. You see, that's the subtlety of the sin of sluggardliness.

The Cumulative Effect: Lessons from Math and Phonics

4:40 Its effects are imperceptible in pieces, but devastating in their cumulative effect. And that's what you must teach your children. Now there's one area where they learn that, in the various disciplines, very early, and that's with regard to math. Everything's built on everything else, especially when you get up into geometry and trigonometry.

5:06 You can't bluff it. I mean, you miss some of those fundamental axioms on the front end, and you're lost. There's no way you can bluff it. Everything's built upon the other.

5:19 The same way with phonics. I have a brother who came to that experimental stage, when no longer were they going to teach ah, ah, ah, the various ways the vowel A can be pronounced, and all the rest, it was sight reading, look and see, and all the rest. And he was hindered in every other discipline, not because he lacked gray matter, but because the building blocks, gradually accumulated by mastering phonics, were devastating in their end result. Well, so it is with this sin, of a sluggard.

Parental Responsibility: Teaching Thoroughness in Small Tasks

5:57 Its end result is as devastating as an armed robbery that begins and is over in ten minutes. And you've got to teach your children this. When you've told them what it means to clean the room. To clean the room means, and among them is, you totally dust everything in the room.

6:18 You start on the top and work down. And you take the rag on which you've sprayed the end dust, and you go over the top of the trim around the windows. But mom, who sees it? God sees it.

6:33 God sees it. Mommy doesn't see it. Daddy doesn't see it. You don't see it.

6:41 God sees it. You want it such that when you're done, God can do a white glove inspection, and he says, well done, good and faithful servant. And so you come in to check the room, and you've told them what it means. It means that in the corner, and in the closet, they must dust the floor, not just shut the closet door, and push everything in, and shoulder it, and it clicks shut, and hope nobody opens it.

The Danger of Parental Laziness and Its Consequences

7:07 Some of us are old enough to remember Fibber McGee's closets, when that thing would open on the radio, and all the clunk, clunk, clunk would come out. And so you come in, and you give it a once over, and say, good job, very good. And you don't check above the trim, the trim above the window. What are you teaching your child?

7:27 You can leave a few weeds today, and get away with it. You don't check in the closet. You can leave a stone loose today. And what happens later on?

7:35 They're given responsibilities at work, and the boss lays out very clearly the fifteen items essential to that task. Twelve of them are absolutely crucial. Three are only peripheral. Your child does the twelve, leaves the three, after six months the boss sees a pattern, it's time for evaluation, to maintain the job or be promoted, and the boss says, he or she is not thorough, terminate as soon as possible.

8:08 And their want comes as an armed man. Where did it start? When cleaning the room was something less than cleaning the room. And you as a parent were too lazy yourself, to take the time, to tell them what it meant to clean the room, and to make sure the room was clean.

The Tragic Adult Results of Neglected Formative Years

8:31 And that's what the text says. A little sleep, a little slumber. The time it would take to do those extra things, I'll just lie in the bed, I'll just read a book, or I'll look at the newspaper, or I'll watch an approved program on TV, whatever it is. A little folding of the hands, a little sleep, and thy poverty shall come to an end.

8:58 Thine is a robber, and thy want is an armed man. And some of you are facing, as mature adults, some of the tragic results of not having this woven into the fabric of your life in your formative years.