A Slack Hand

Scripture takes a dim view of a slack hand. “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: But the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Prov. 10:4).

This applies to all of us—men and women, boy and girls. It applies to every station of life—job holder, housekeeper, or student. One of the plain indicators that the Spirit of God is at work is that He creates a work ethic in His people. So let us be honest with one another, and brutally honest with ourselves. Where are we being lazy?

We need to be careful about this because lazy people have trained themselves to be impervious to exhortations such as this, and they sally forth in a panoply of excuses. And those who know how to work—which would be the vast majority of you—take exhortations like this to heart, and resolve to work even harder than you do. But I am speaking here to the handful of you who need to repent of sloth.

Some of you who are adept with a slack hand are also adept in the arts of manipulation. There are people near you who are not allergic to work the same way you are, and you can maneuver them into carrying part of your job for you. But never forget this—God sees it. He is dealing with it. In fact, He is dealing with it right now. So I am also speaking to the hard workers who make the terrible mistake of subsidizing sloth in others.

In this, let us not have false ideals of a pristine state. There is a kind of chaos caused by industry: “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: But much increase is by the strength of the ox” (Prov. 14:4). But there is also the chaos of sloth: “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, And nettles had covered the face thereof, And the stone wall thereof was broken down” (Prov. 24:30-31). So if you are a sluggard, pray for light. You don’t want to be a sluggard, and be the last one to know.