A Word in Season: Slack Hands and Wise Sons (Proverbs 10:4–5)

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The book of Proverbs shouldn't be taken as some collection of inflexible and infallible rules, as if here is invariable cause and effect, constant action and consequence.

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Rather it's a book of wisdom. It's the way things tend to be. A usually leads to B.

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B typically results in C. There is real causality and connection.

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It's typical. It's normal. And so when we read in Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 4 and 5, that he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

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He who gathers in summer is a wise son. He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

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This is a father who's communicating to his son the typical way in which this world works, under God's government and control, that there are usually these kinds of consequences that follow upon these kinds of actions.

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And so it's typical that he who has a slack hand becomes poor. We can almost see what a slack hand is.

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There's no fervour, there's no vigour, there's no intensity. It's contrasted deliberately with the hand of the diligent.

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Here's a man who's about his business. Here's a woman who gets on with the job.

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She or he are forthright, they're deliberate, they're engaged, they're working hard as opposed to the slack handed one.

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And there's a different outcome then in each case. The slack handed becomes poor.

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He doesn't engage very diligently. He doesn't go about his business with plan and with purpose.

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He doesn't work hard and well until the job is finished. But the hand of the diligent, the one who sets his mind to his work, who persists in it, who works to the highest possible standard, that's the one who is going to become rich.

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And then the verse that follows is really an extension of that. It's an application.

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He who gathers in summer is a wise son. He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

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The sense is that there are certain seasons in the year that require a certain kind of work.

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The summer is a time for gathering. Fruits are coming in. There's an opportunity simply to take what you need.

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And if you do that and store up then for the seasons that lie ahead, there's wisdom.

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In the same way, harvest is a time for hard work, a time for bringing in everything that is now coming into its full fruitfulness.

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And the contrast then again is between the gatherer in summer who is wise and the sleeper in harvest who causes shame, who brings dishonour.

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He's showing that his parents haven't taught him and instructed him well.

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He's demonstrating that he has perhaps no regard for the well -being of his family and others who may be depending upon him in some measure.

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So here then are these general principles and these lively pictures.

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The slack hand who becomes poor, the diligent hand who is made rich, the gatherer in summer who shows wisdom, the sleeper in harvest who causes shame.

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Now what kind of hand do we have and what kind of man or woman are we?

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Are we slack handed or are we diligent in our hand?

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Do we take advantage of the seasons and the opportunities that they provide for us to do the work appropriate to the time and the place or do we let the opportunities drift by and slide past us?

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There's obvious application for the way that we go about our business in this world. Diligence and carefulness, a proper seizing of the proper opportunities that God gives us to do what we can, when we can, while we can, for as long as we can.

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These are the things that ultimately, usually, bring profit and blessing in this world.

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And so whatever we're about, if we're about our work as Christian men and women, we don't want to be slack handed, we don't want to be foolish and shame causing, we want rather to be diligent and wise.

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But it's worth remembering that the same is also true in the spiritual sphere. If we want to gather up good things, if we want to make the most of the opportunities that we have, then we need to be diligent in those seasons and occasions when the opportunities for learning and investment are before us.

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And in that way, not only will we be made rich in this world's goods, but we'll also be storing up treasures in heaven.