You Rule! – Proverbs in Practice
She asked her mom, former procrastinators, “Janie wants to know, why do I have to do school on Saturday?”
“You don’t have to do school on Saturday. But when you don’t do the work during the week, you have to do it on Saturday.”
What a vivid example of this week’s proverb.
“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” Proverbs 12:24
It’s pretty annoying not to be able to play when your friend asks you to join her for something fun. In fact, that’s true at any age, right? When we’re young, somebody else exercises the discipline to train us. When we’re grown, we have to make the decision and follow through ourselves. There are consequences for us at all ages.
If I don’t buy groceries during the week, I have to say “no” to meeting my friends for brunch Saturday. Bummer. If I don’t prepare in advance for the hike, I’ll have to remain in camp while the group climbs to the summit. Phooey. If I slough off during the semester, the rest of the class will move up to the next course while I repeat the first one. Embarrassment.
“Rule” here means to govern, to have power. “Forced labor” indicates that the slothful one will have no choice about what he does because somebody else will be telling him what to do. He loses freedom of choice because he chose poorly early on. KJV says the slothful will be under tribute – a burden.
Merriam-Webster online says diligence is “steady, earnest, and energetic effort.” That’s good. Here, we usually say diligence is “doing what needs doing when it needs doing.” Though I was a hard worker, I did not work on what was needed at the time needed. I got a lot done, but not the priority. Slothful.
You could work on charts and graphs and have a beautiful presentation, but if you’ve been tasked with setting up accommodations for guests, you haven’t done what is needed. No steady, earnest, energetic effort on accommodations. So, what will you have to do? Stay late to get that job done. A burden. Or perhaps, the job will be taken from you and given to someone else because you missed your chance. A different burden to carry.
Are you expected to put in so many hours a day where you work? If so, and you lack hours, must you take time out of what would be your free time to make up for what you did not do during regular hours? Forced labor, a burden.
Wouldn’t you rather be a steady worker and rule?
Recall a time you were rewarded for having been diligent and a time you were penalized for slothfulness.
