Proverbial Hump Day: Proverbs 13:4

Why the slacker has nothing

Have you ever known anyone who spent a lot of time laying about, doing not much of anything, yet their desires were luxurious?

Source: Pexels

Perhaps they thought they should own the biggest house on the block, or they wanted to live in a castle. Their favorite car was a lambo and they believed Elon Musk should just walk up to them on the street and hand them to keys to one. They constantly crazed the best cuts of steak, but were far from willing to pay the price to have one.

Such people want much, but do little to achieve their dreams. We call them slackers. They never accept responsibility and always expect rewards. Proverbs 13:4 says they crave, yet possess nothing.

Such people deserve nothing, really. Do they?

By contrast, …

the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

Notice the word “soul.”

It isn’t the body or the spirit that is fully satisfied. Rather, it is the soul—the mind, the imagination, and the emotions—of the diligent.

The soul is that part of us, the human species, that defines who we are individually. It encompasses the mind, the will, emotions, imagination, and all that bridges our bodies to our spirits. It’s invisible, yet detectable. And it can be satisfied, but what satisfies the soul?

Diligence. Hard work. Labor.

For it is these that grow the fruit of a well-worked field. The rewards that come from honest, decent, hard work. Things of which the slacker knows nothing.

Allen Taylor is the author of I Am Not the King.