A Proverbial look at Wisdom on
Diligence and Laziness/Wisdom and Folly
In
the book of Proverbs, we find an immense contrast between those who are
diligent and those who are lazy. The hands of the diligent will bring wealth whereas the hands of the lazy will only
bring poverty. We see this in everyday life. There
are exceptions to every rule. However, for the most part, those who stay
focused and do their job without hesitating will be successful in life. A
person who is lazy and deceitful, on the other hand, will find themselves never
succeeding in life (10:4).
If you want to succeed in life, you have
to work hard. I know we live in a Give Me
society now-a-days. However, if you wish to have pride in yourself and climb
the ladder of success, you must work hard and show your bosses you deserve to
be promoted. Those who decide not to work hard, to not succeed in life,
will watch as the one who was hired after
him becomes his boss (12:24). That is the end result of laziness at best. At
worse, they will find themselves without a job wondering
what in the world happened to them.
Diligence, on the other
hand,
brings satisfaction in your life because you know your hard work brought
success and because of that you are now able to do more with your life. The sluggard
is never satisfied with life because he knows that he is a failure. Instead of
changing, too often the sluggard will blame others for their destruction. However,
deep in his heart, he knows that he could have done so much more with his life
if he would have just applied himself
(13:4).
Diligence and wisdom work hand in hand in
that it would be impossible to have wisdom without diligence. Wisdom does not
come from just desiring it. As Proverbs 4 tell us, we need to get wisdom. We
are to strive to have wisdom and continue diligently to keep it. As we
diligently seek wisdom, not only will we have the wisdom we need in life, but
we will also have the wisdom necessary
for understanding and applying God’s Word in our life.
Laziness and folly also work hand in hand
in the lives of those who do not desire to succeed in their personal or
spiritual lives. Laziness brings out foolishness in the life of those who do
not seek wisdom. If we are not diligent, we are lazy. If we do not obtain wisdom through diligence, we become fools.
We need to diligently seek wisdom in our
lives so that we may be successful in our personal lives. Through wisdom we also have a close relationship with
our Heavenly Father. That should always be our primary desire in life.
Solomon desired
and was granted wisdom from God, but was not diligent in keeping God’s wisdom. Instead, he began to live his life foolishly,
living more for his pleasure than God’s. Let us be diligent in seeking God’s
wisdom in our lives.
For the remainder of my lesson, I would like to quickly look at what
God explicitly says about wisdom and
folly.
In Proverbs,
we find the wise will bring joy to his father while a fool will only bring
grief to his mother (10:1). I am a father of
seven. I can tell you without a doubt when a child of yours is wise, you will
have pride in what they will accomplish. If you have a lazy fool, it will only
bring grief and shame.
To seek wisdom, we first need to fear the
Lord and have no desire to be around evil (14:6). Too many people feel with wisdom comes wealth.
Therefore, that is their driving force for obtaining wisdom. Wisdom must first come from God’s heart
and our desire to please Him.
To have wisdom, we must listen to other’s advice and strive
to hang out with those who are wise. We are to also teach wisdom to those who
will listen (12:15,13:20 & 15:7). With the counsel of the wise, we can learn to live our lives to not only
serve our Father in Heaven, but also our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
When we show the wisdom of God, we will reveal God’s heart to those around us.
Those who have wisdom not only think
before they act but they also think before they speak (14:8 & 14:3). That
is a quality our society is truly missing. Too many people speak and act before
they think. What a dangerous way to live. God gave us a brain for a reason. I
pray we all think before we speak and/or act. We also gain wisdom as we
diligently strive to do what is right in our lives (17:24). A wise person also
thinks ahead so they can be prepared for the hard times they may face
(21:20).
The way of the fool, on the other hand, is destructive. The fool is secure in
their foolishness and is hotheaded (14:6). You know the type. They think they
are always right and will not listen to the advice of others. They believe they
have all of the answers in life and do not seem to think anyone else’s opinion is worth listening too. When they speak
to others, they believe they are speaking
wisdom, but in the end they are speaking
foolishness, but with pride (12:15, 10:8 & 14:3).
Instead of seeking what pleases God, their
only desire is to seek wicked schemes for
their own pleasure. They have no desire
to do what is right (10:23 &15:7). Naturally
they do not think before they act (14:8).
The fool searches aimlessly through life
to find true pleasure, yet because of those they associate with, they find
nothing but sorrow and destruction. At the end,
when they are facing hard times, they are never prepared. They also don’t have
the friends they can count on to help them (17:24, 13:20 & 21:20).
Instead of living our lives as a fool, I
pray we will always be diligent in our quest for God’s wisdom. God bless you.
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