Proverbs 24:32

The slothful man deserves pity as well as blame. He might be admirable in this way or that. But his field and his vineyard announce his fault and point ahead to his ruin. Thorns and nettles hold the field where good grain should be waving. The wall is so broken down that it invites damaging men and beasts. Is this not a plain lesson to anyone who looks at it with even a little attention? It is no example to follow, but a serious warning. The outward discloses the inward… He may be free of strong drink, of sensual pleasure, of wasteful company. His laziness ensures his ruin.

Here we see "thorns," the sign of God's displeasure, instead of the "trees of His own planting." We see "nettles" instead of fruitful branches. And "the stone wall" of separation, once so firm and solid, is now "broken down." So evil company is easy to find inside, and nothing keeps evil intruders out. All this traces back to spiritual laziness.

The field and the vineyard were all overgrown with thorns, the sign of the curse. The stone wall lay broken down — that is, the wall of separation that kept out the raids of the enemy. In fact, this ruin appeared in Israel very soon after Solomon himself took the throne. His marrying many foreign wives began the breaking down of the wall. Evil religions came in, so openly that Solomon himself was carried into the dreadful practice of worshiping idols! He warned against this in this chapter, yet he failed to follow his own instruction, just as mankind generally does.

I went to the house of young Mr. Slothful. His Bible was hidden away under many other books. Thick dust covered its back and sides, and his regular habits of daily prayer had quite broken down. I saw all this and considered it well, and I knew the reason. Young Mr. Slothful had been taking a little more sleep in the mornings, slackening off a little with the usual duties, a little more ease for himself in everything. And now spiritual poverty has come upon him like a robber. He is cold in heart and distant in his ways. But it is all the fruit of his own plain neglect.

Sloth says, "Put the work off till tomorrow. Another time will do just as well." So things drift. No weeding. No digging. No sowing. But all the while the nettles are growing. The thorns creep silently over the flower beds, and the stone wall topples further day by day. Then there is a crash. You rush out to see what happened, and you find your neat garden has become a wilderness.

At least now may we receive the instruction we need in this matter. Only "a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest" (v. 33) may have dreadful results. Of course we need sleep and rest. But if this is what marks our lives, that is a different matter. It is worse still when we sleep about spiritual things and stay blind to grave dangers. It was "while men were sleeping" that the enemy sowed weeds among the wheat (Matt. 13:25).

The true remedy is not hard work for self. It is not activity in the world and the things of the world. The remedy is Christ. He is the life eternal and the only propitiation for our sins, to God's glory. He is the Lord of all, saints or sinners. He is the fullness of blessing and the pattern of service.