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Today's Devotional

A lazy person doesn’t plow in the proper season; he looks for a harvest, but there is nothing — Proverbs 20:4 (International Standard Version).

Interpretation.— Ploughing-time in the East is during the earlier part of the winter, when the wind commonly blows from the north, but frosts are never severe. A slothful man is here represented as excusing himself from the proper work, not of a day only, but of a season, and neglecting to plough his ground “by reason of the cold.” Consequently, when harvest-time comes, there is no harvest for him, and he is compelled to beg food of others (who, having sown, have also reaped), and in the midst of plenty to have nothing, being refused on every side with scorn. The proverb finds a deeper verification in the sowing harvest times of the soul.

Illustrations.— Of the loss of opportunity through imaginary or exaggerated fears, the case of the Israelites shrinking back from the invasion of Canaan on the mere report of the spies is an example, “written for our admonition.” What they would not attempt when they might they were not permitted to achieve when they would (Numb. 13:26, 14:1-5,40-45). The slothful servant (in the parable), whose pretended dread of his master’s austerity was his plea for not sowing his money (so to speak) to the end that it might yield an increase, found out to his cost that he had done very foolishly, when of the harvest reaped by his diligent fellow-servants, no portion came to him, but even that which he seemed to have (“seemed,” for it had been given him only in trust) was taken away. Among those who shall have their portion in the “lake, which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8), the first-named are “the fearful,” those craven-spirited ones who have shrunk from conflict and toil and self-denial for their souls’ and their Master’s sake.

Application.— No one can question the accuracy of the picture here drawn as far as this present life is concerned. No one complains of the retribution which follows inevitably upon slothful waste of opportunity. It is felt that thus it must be and ought to be. And the certainty of it is doubtless an incentive to the many to toil unremittingly for their daily bread. Would that the many were equally alive to its bearing upon the soul! Then, they would not be found excusing themselves from Christ’s service in early life— the sowing- time for eternity— and that, on the ground of its being too early! The privilege of communion with God (specially at his altar) would not be deferred “by reason of the cold,” but be the first act of the day. And so, through life, duty with its hardships and its hopes would always come before the hopeless joys of self-indulgence.

About the author and the source

While vicar of St. James’s Parish, Tunbridge Wells, Rev. Christopher Ridley Pearson wrote on Solomon’s proverbs, selecting one for each day of the year to spotlight its truths and suggest applications. A member of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England, he was known for his outreach to the lower classes and was controversial for restoring some Catholic forms of worship to his parish.