Proverbs 6:10
|
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
|
A lazy fool is in bed. The sun peaks over the horizon; the clock shows it is time to get up; the night is over, and there is work to do. He sleeps a little longer; he loves his warm bed; he folds his hands and cuddles in his comfy cocoon. He is a lazy fool. He is a loser. Poverty will soon get him (6:11)! His drowsy approach to life will ruin him (23:21)!
He ought to get up, but he does not like to work. He prefers to sleep. He tries to postpone work by staying in bed. Maybe the work will go away, and he can sleep all day, he dreams. Maybe another fifteen minutes in bed will make it easier to get up. It feels so good, he mumbles; surely there is nothing wrong with something that feels this good!
Solomon warned against laziness and sleeping too much (6:6-11). Sleeping is a big temptation for young men, so he repeated these very words again (24:30-34). He mocked the cuddling sluggard, "As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed" (26:14). He rolls back and forth, finding new positions, rather than getting up!
You cannot make money in bed! More minutes in bed wastes time and opportunity! Real men get up! They don't hit the snooze button! They hit the deck! They turn the lights on! They wash their faces! They punch the air! They stretch and flex! They smack their hands! They thank God for another day! They rejoice to be up before slothful neighbors!
Young men love sleep. They nursed and slept all day to begin life! They do not know the weight of supporting a family. They do not appreciate a paying job. Life so far has been eating, playing, and sleeping! They want to sleep until they feel like getting up, which is often about noon! They have not learned that too much sleep makes you sleepy (19:15)!
Sleep must be ruled like other things. You need a certain amount, and taking more is slothfulness. Temperance, or self-discipline, is key. Drunkards drink too much; sluggards sleep too much. You cannot sleep all you want anymore than you can drink all you want.
Loving sleep is as wrong as loving wine. Solomon wrote, "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread" (20:13). A big step to success is the first step in the morning! Get up! Get going! You will be glad you did!
Parents! Teach your children to get up by example and rules. Though we have lost the early morning chores of the farm, we can still expect them to be up early and attacking the day! Girls need the rule at least as much, for virtuous women do not sleep in (31:15)!
www.letgodbetrue.com
