Don’t procrastinate— there’s no time to lose.

Proverbs 6:4 MSG The Message

The Message is a helpful version of the Bible. I use it a lot as a companion to my study Bible. I don’t hide the fact that some verses of the Bible go right over my head. This verse from MSG is very direct but worded different than most other versions.  Almost all other version of the Bible for this verse are similiar to the KJV…

Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids.

You can decide for yourself if God is referring to life itself or if God is asking us not to procrastinate our relationship with him. Personally I think the latter because, at least for me, when I focus more on the Lord it helps my day to day living and when I focus on me and my life, not so much.

Proverbs 7 NIV w/ Proverbs 6 NIV

 
Are you a self-starter? Do you have a great enough sense of responsibility to know what you ought to do and to do it? Solomon continues his condemnation of sluggards by comparing them to ants (6:6-8). These little people do not need a meeting every morning to be told what to do and how to do it. They just go to work and get things done, now!
 
The ants provide an excellent lesson in wise planning, diligence, frugality, and investment. They work hard all summer to provide for their needs during the fall, winter, and spring (6:8; 30:25). They work hard, consume little, and save much. All three of which are great virtues.
 
And they do it without direction. The ants do not have a guide, overseer, or ruler to remind them of diligence, frugality, and saving. They do these things instinctively by God’s wise creation. It is a shame that most men cannot copy the virtues of these insignificant little people. Solomon must warn his son about sluggards of the human race who do not work during harvest (10:5; 20:4).
 
Many men must be forced to work, reminded to work, told how to work, reproved for jobs poorly done, reminded how to do the job right, and constantly followed to keep them working (6:9-11; 20:13). They will take a day off for a cold or headache. If the boss is away, they will play. These are sluggards.
Other men spend everything they make, much of it on pleasure (21:17,20; 23:21). They will spend next month’s labor by using credit cards for entertainment and toys today. Others like them will invest their money in foolish schemes that rob them and their family (28:19). These two kinds of men – the sluggard and the waster – are brothers. They both come from the family of financial ruin (18:9). They both could learn much from the ant.
 
Parents, you are responsible to teach your children hard work, wise foresight, spending discipline, and constant saving. These four simple traits will do more for their future financial and personal success than any other natural investment you can make in them. Teach them about the ant!
 
The cure for sluggards and spendthrifts is simple and obvious. Starve them. They will learn both virtues – diligence and saving. This is the wisdom of God, and humanistic shortcuts like public education, welfare, jobs programs, and charity will not cut it (20:4; II Thess 3:6-14). Christian charity extends only to acts of God, not consequences of slothor waste, only to necessary things, not toys or entertainment.
 
The locusts are also praised in 30:27 for not having a king, but the virtue there is social responsibility and cooperation, for they all go forth by bands. But the ant is singled out twice for its great diligence and frugality, with a wise eye to the future (6:8; 30:25). Paul warned that every man shall bear his own burden (Gal 6:5).
 
Dear reader, what should you be doing today? Do you need someone to tell you, again? Do you need to be punished by authority or circumstances to do it? Consider the ant, and go do what you ought to be doing. You will be blessed in the deed naturally and spiritually. And you should be especially eager to get at your spiritual duties.
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the ultimate self-starter. He was focused on obeying His Father from the beginning, which He showed even at twelve years of age in the temple. And He did this in spite of His mother and Joseph not understanding or helping Him toward His goal (Luke 2:49; John 4:34). Listen to Him speak of His burden to serve His Father: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).
 

6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Proverbs 7 KJV w/ Proverbs 6 KJV

Proverbs 25:15 CEV

 
Wisdom includes ability to persuade those in authority, which is very useful knowledge. The main authorities in life are parents, husbands, employers, government, and pastors. They are moved more by patient reverence than by bold debate. Though your cause might be important and right, wisdom calls for careful and respectful intreaties.
Here is great wisdom for dealing with authority. You will need to persuade an authority of your cause or dissuade one from punishing your offences. Our proverb here deals with persuasion, but the same wisdom serves in dissuasion as well (Eccl 10:4). This rule, learned and remembered, will give great and peaceful skill for dealing with authority.
 
Our society teaches the opposite of this wisdom, and the results are horrible. Demanding your rights and expecting an authority to cater to your needs and opinions is proud rebellion and creates anarchy. Rather than moving the one in authority toward your cause, it will force him to solidify his position and punish your insolent insubordination.
 
Human nature is proud, rebellious, and selfish. It assumes all men are created equal and possessing great rights. But the Bible rejects such arrogant rebellion. No two men are created equal, and they are put in the five offices already listed that give them power over other men. God created the offices of authority, and exalting them makes a society great. Disrespect of authority is a widespread problem in our profane and rebellious nation.
 
Solomon wrote as a monarch, where a king and his princes had great authority. They had the power of life and death, and there was no threat of a hung jury or other limitation to their ruling. The example in our proverb is a prince. Solomon gives divine wisdom to help you persuade a powerful authority to consider your person and cause. Glory!
 
Forbearing is putting up with disagreement or poor treatment. It is patient longsuffering in the face of adversity. It is used here to describe a patient approach with authority. If you seek to persuade an authority to change, you must wait for them to consider your cause. Impatiently demanding their change will totally work against you. Wait for them.
 
A soft tongue is a metonym for gentle and respectful speech (15:1). It is so effective that it is described as having the power to break the bones of a prince! Rather than arguing or debating your case, a meek and reverent appeal works far better. Aggressive and harsh words ignore their important office and attack the integrity of their authority. Instead of soberly considering your cause, they will defend their position and rank by rejecting you.
 
The lower you go in humility, and the higher you lift their person and rank, the greater leverage you have with them. To the degree you protect yourself and dilute this reverent, gentle, and patient approach, you give up leverage. Wisdom is profitable to direct!
David skillfully used this wisdom appealing to King Saul for mercy (I Sam 24:1-22; 26:1-25). And Abigail, a beautiful woman with great understanding, used it to persuade David against revenge, when he was passionately angry against her husband (I Sam 25:1-42). Read these three chapters and focus on the choice of words of David and Abigail.
 
Child, a respectful and kind letter to parents will work far better than arguing or pouting. Both of these actions indicate you are a spoiled brat and deserve nothing. Thank your parents for their goodness to you, and declare your love and obedience to them. Humbly state your request. Remember to patiently wait for their answer! They do not owe you!
 
Wife, a reverent and submissive appeal to your husband, carefully chosen for timing and location, will work far better than haughty demands, presumed rights, or sexual deprivation. Remember, he owes you nothing on the spot. Patiently wait for him to consider your request. Sarah and Bathsheba called their husbands lord, and they obtained great requests from powerful men. Godly women give up their “rights” to gain freedom!
 
Employers and government should be treated the same way. A grievance for working conditions or an assignment is received much better when made with respect and patience than with demands, insubordination, or threats. Everyone knows state troopers respond better to respectful and submissive answers than arrogant and disgusted ones!
 
The godly application of this wisdom will bring peace and prosperity into your life, and it will exalt godly authority in the earth by its careful and patient respect for their offices. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of princes, be given all the honor due unto Him!
Jonathan Crosby
 

By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.

Proverbs 25:15 KJV

 
What do you think? Comment here!

If you work hard you will get rich and if you are lazy you will be poor. Wouldn’t that be great if God worked that way. All we would have to do is work hard and we would be rich. God is telling us that we need to work hard but at what? I have worked hard on a lot of things in my life and they didn’t make me rich. We have to work hard to understand what God wants from us. A hamster can run for hours on a wheel but he isn’t going anywhere. I have been on that wheel too, many times…

Some may disagree but for me faith takes hard work. If I don’t pray, read my Bible, go to church, etc I loose faith and shoulder the burdens myself. I need my faith to be strong because if I work hard on my own, my plate gets full, I feel overwhelmed, and end up looking like the hamster on the wheel. I know when I start to get really stressed and overwhelmed, I need to work harder to understand what God wants be to do.

I remember watching a NASCAR race at Bristol and the announcer kept repeating that the key to Bristol, a high banked short track, was to slow down to speed up. That didn’t make sense to me at first but I noticed that the drivers in the top ten where not steering their wheel nearly as hard as the drivers in the back of the field. The leaders were more concerned with hitting there marks and not just hammering the gas and then stomping on the breaks like the drivers that were hitting the wall or wrecking.

Sometimes God needs us to slow down so we can speed up. Laziness is just not someone who sits on the couch all day watching TV, it can also be someone who is lazy in worship.