Proverbs 26:12–16

The wise are lowly and dependent on the only wise God. The foolish man is wise in his own eyes; he who only adds conceit to folly is the most hopeless of men.

Whenever I see a man confident in himself (and of course we are all open to it, at least in some things), I have no confidence in him.

Of all fools, the conceited fool is the worst. Pride makes a man incapable of receiving counsel.

Verses 12 to 16 show a different kind of hostility to the truth: the proud, self-opinionated lazy man. A fool may be actively opposed to God. But this man takes a haughty, contemptuous attitude. He thinks himself wiser than everybody else, so he is indifferent to what is good and precious. He can tell anyone how everything should be done, but does nothing himself. A man of this kind is less likely to be converted than is a fool.

So it is with the man who, satisfied with himself, thinks he is secure because he relies on Christian ceremonies. Yet his heart may never have truly known one syllable of saving grace. He may never have felt his need of the precious blood of the Lamb of God, as a sinner who condemns himself and stands convicted by the truth.

Not that the Pharisee represents a man who denies God, or who is not a religious man. He is religious, but such religion is the most damning thing about him. The evil is not just his sins, but his religion. Nothing blinds him and other people more. Nothing dishonours God more. On the other hand, the poor tax collector has neither clear light nor peace. But at least he reaches the beginning of all true light: he has learned enough of God to condemn himself.

The humble mind learns according to the power of God's truth. The self-satisfied man handles it like a weapon that wounds himself, and may wound others... So the humble soul prospers. He has God's own word, he feeds in these green pastures, and as this truth becomes part of him, he may become a blessing to others. The self-confident mind has never come to God in His word at all. If he had, he would have stopped being self-confident.

Only he who owns his nothingness, who takes his place in weakness at His feet, and is like a baby, can receive these things. Never does the Lord entrust His secrets and His counsels to the wise and prudent.

But slothfulness is an evil to be dreaded, even if a man is far from a fool. And it is no uncommon thing for someone who is otherwise wise to imagine a danger where there is none. It is because he is a sluggard, and because he is dodging a duty that has to be done; he sees imminent danger, and cries, A lion in the road! A lion in the streets!

The sluggard can always spot difficulties standing in the way of doing good; but he does not see the tragic harm his laziness brings to his own soul. He has no faith to give him courage to overcome difficulties, whether real or imagined. If Satan (the lion) is in our way, the believer may count on the power of God to overcome this. But the slothful man gives up before he ever tries.

Again, the sluggard who likes to lie in bed says in his foolish imagination, A lion is outside. I shall be killed in the streets! He is blind to the worst enemy that besets his room and holds his soul in chains.

It is not the place of faith, nor its path, to deny that God's people meet difficulties. That would be the height of folly, since the difficulties are real. To deny them would be only recklessness, fanaticism, or fleshly enthusiasm. It is always good for people to know what they are doing, and not to rush blindly into a path they are not prepared for. An unbelieving sluggard may say, "There is a lion in the road!" A blind enthusiast may say, "There is no such thing." The true man of faith will say, "Though there were a thousand lions in the road, God can soon dispose of them."

A difficulty may be real. But if you are on the path of God's will, it becomes an obstacle only through unbelief of heart. For faith counts on God and does what He wills, and difficulties are nothing before Him. Unbelief can always find excuses, and excuses that look well founded too. They have only this one great defect: they leave God out.

Satan flourishes where the path of obedience is left. There is no lion in the path of obedience. It is the slothful man who says, There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets! No one was ever killed in the street. He may have been attacked while he was on the path of disobedience. But as Bunyan pictures it in his story, the lions are chained so that they cannot reach the path of obedience. In God's path Satan can never attack. The path of obedience is the path of safety. Leave that path, and the lion is there.

Perhaps one of the earliest outward marks of inward decline in a Christian is the readiness to excuse oneself from devotedness and diligence in the Lord's service. He talks of difficulties nobody had heard of before, and he fears dangers too. So his plain neglect is both explained and excused… The human mind can easily imagine or invent obstacles to unselfish, God-honouring service. Give in to that, instead of holding to the truth at all costs, and a place of ease is soon found.

You cannot go out in the power of that love and see "a lion in the road" — no, for you see Christ beyond.

The only hinges that have come down to us from ancient times are pivots sticking out above and below the door. The door turned on these. In old houses that still stand, with stone doors, the hinges are stone projections at the top and bottom of the doors.

"As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed." If this deserves strong blame in ordinary life, how much more in the things of God! The door swings, but only in the same place. So the sluggard never gets free from selfish, self-centred habit. He never acts in faith for God. The believer too must take care not to hide his light under a bed.

And what could be more graphic of the sluggard on his bed of ease than the door turning on its hinges! The believer has his new nature from Him, apart from whom no sparrow falls, and who counts the very hairs of his own head. The sluggard gives in to the do-nothing spirit of self-pleasing in its lowest form.

Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, seems to have been a lazy man. At any rate he was resting in the middle of the day. And when he was lying on his bed at noon, two men rushed on him and assassinated him. If he had been up doing some useful work as a king's son, he might have lived longer. Sloth is a great enemy. The sluggard lies at his ease, turning first one way and then another like a door on its hinges. Where is the light? There is none shining. The lamp is cold and dead. The bed has put it out.

Perhaps one of the earliest outward marks of inward decline in a Christian is this. He is quick to excuse himself from devotion and diligence in the Lord's service. He speaks of difficulties nobody heard of before. He fears dangers too… A drowsy state has taken hold of them. Their spiritual movements are little more than mechanical, "as a door turns on its hinges." They grow as lazy about the welfare of their souls as a sleeping man.

Here is the truth. We stop enjoying the love of God to us in Christ. Christ Himself is no longer the Object and Hope of our hearts. Meditation on the word of God becomes tiresome, and private prayer fades… Then we begin to be slothful Christians. How serious is this state! For "slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger." Notice that it is a deep sleep — so deep that ordinary means fail completely to wake them.

Take this as a basic principle of your inner life. The Scriptures urge you toward practical virtues, and you gain them only at the cost of constant self-denial and labour. It is the diligent soul that is "made fat," as an older translation puts it. To make progress in the divine life, you must be ready to give up a good deal of ease, pleasure and worldly advantage.

Purpose, prayer, and progress go together; but let the believer only become purposeless and prayerless, then paralysis will soon creep over the spiritual system.

Another vivid likeness is of the sluggard when he rises to take his meals. In his listlessness he buries his hand, not in his bosom but in a dish; and he is weary of even lifting it to his mouth. From such a person, who could look for gratitude to God or kindness to a suffering fellow man?

It is clear this is not meant merely literally, but who can doubt its spiritual meaning? Food is available for him: he knows it, and reaches out his hand, but only to trifle with it. He does not even have the energy to eat it. How well this describes the way many treat the food of the Word of God! They complacently think they know all about it, and have no concern about digesting it!

The faith that fears Jehovah is earnest. The sluggard, by contrast, is so absorbed in himself that he will not so much as raise his hand from the dish to his mouth. So he lives, dies, and perishes.

Perhaps one of the earliest outward marks of inward decline in a Christian is the readiness to excuse yourself from devotion and diligence in the Lord's service. People speak of difficulties they never mentioned before, and of dangers they fear, so their plain neglect is both explained and excused… We can lose the authority of the Word on our conscience — the Word that says it has been granted to us, for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake. Then we easily think of our present advantage and personal ease in this passing scene. We drift away from wisdom's ways of pleasantness and peace, and become weak and helpless in divine things… Such people have not only left their first love. They turn away from those who stand for God's truth at all costs. A drowsy state has taken hold of them, so that their spiritual movements are little more than mechanical.

I went to the house of young Mr. Slothful. His Bible was completely hidden by many other books, with thick dust over its back and sides. His regular habits of daily prayer were quite broken down… Young Mr. Slothful had been indulging in a little more sleep in the mornings, a little slackening off with the usual duties, a little more self-ease in everything. And now spiritual poverty has come upon him like a robber… First he simply left off the regular habit for once. Then he did the same thing again, and again, and each gap between the times was shorter, until now the well-ordered Christian life has become a disorderly wilderness of evil weeds.

The Israelite in the desert had to rise early to get the manna while it was still morning, or go hungry. Christians must show the same diligence in feeding their souls. They are not allowed to eat the bread of idleness and prosper in their souls at the same time.

"Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." A fool may openly fight against God. But the sluggard takes a proud, scornful attitude. He counts himself wiser than everybody else, and so he cares nothing for what is good and precious. He can tell you how everything ought to be done, but he does nothing himself. A man like this is less likely to be converted than a fool is.

The sluggard, like the fool, is certainly wise in his own eyes. He even counts himself wiser than seven men who answer with discretion. He is so satisfied with himself that he avoids any effort to learn. Learning is all very well for other men, but he does not need it! He is a genius, and can afford his never-failing nap. So self-conceit flatters those who dislike work. They want a position that belongs only to those who do not dodge hard work — and hard work is a healthy discipline for man as he is. But their conceit usually ends in their own ruin, and in trouble for those close to them.

Seven men may be careful, sensible and honourable, and may give a united judgment on a matter. But the sluggard rejects their judgment with contempt. His only basis is his own self-centred opinion. He thinks wisdom belongs to him alone. May we who are Christians be careful that we do not in any measure resemble such egotists.

How easily we can see a fat, lazy, comfortable religion here. It turns God's grace into loose living. There is no effort of soul, no earnest feeding on the Word of God — only self-satisfied boasting: "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing." … The boaster is not a worker: how much better to work, and not boast!

There is nothing a man dislikes more than thinking badly of himself, unless it is believing good of God. Truly the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. The wise man distrusts himself and listens to counsel. He does not cheat God and his conscience by asking advice from the weak and easy-going. He asks the godly.

The humble are glad when someone helps them in their difficulties. They do not run down those who see more clearly than they do… The proud spirit of independence may aim high, but there are still leaders and guides among God's people. No one can ignore or slight them without loss to himself. The Holy Spirit does not lead to self-conceit, but to genuine humility and a warm value for fellowship.

It is the diligent soul that is "richly supplied." You must be ready to give up a good deal of ease, pleasure and worldly advantage to make progress in the divine life. The spiritual sluggard avoids all this for the sake of his own comfort. But his laziness has a result: the works of the flesh choke the fruit of the Spirit in him.