SCRIP-BITS

Proverbs 6:9.      How long wilt thou sleep (lie down, be lazy) O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Well, this Family Day holiday in Ontario is a somewhat damp and cloudy Monday morning, but the sun seems to be fighting through the clouds so its glorious sunshine can prevail! Glory to God! 

And you know that’s exactly what we supposed believers in Christ ought to be doing; fighting through all the sin, the evil, the darkness and ungodliness of this world in His holy name! But unfortunately, too many of us have become lax, lazy and complacent, while enjoying the amenities that the world has to offer, and thus have been caught flat-footed and unprepared when the barrage of unexpected problems recently descended on us. 

So we’re afraid…and anxious…and don’t know what to do. But nothing has changed friends, we’re still supposed to do what we know is right to do: that’s get up off of our fat fannies, pray and live sincerely for God! And Cousin Sol puts forth the correct question for us today after showing us the magnificent work ethic of the ant, who has no leader or overseer to force him to work, but nonetheless, diligently goes about his business. In other words, the ant is a self-starter. He is wise enough to prepare for predictable situations. (Prov. 6:6-8) 

Cousin Sol asks this poignant question: ‘How long wilt thou sleep (lie down, be lazy) O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?’ (Prov. 6:9) Now that’s a question that many of us need to answer right away by getting up and doing God’s work, for if we had been doing it, had been the salt and light of the earth like Christ desires of us, our world would never have fallen into such a sad state of disrepair and disrepute. 

And like the lazy and sleepy sluggard, our just deserts will fall on us, in fact, they have already fallen on us. Like Cousin Sol says: ‘Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth (a prowler), and thy want (need) as an armed man.’ (Prov. 6:10-11) Yes my brethren, as the scholars tell us: ‘The result of such laziness is dire poverty, which will come as suddenly and decisively as a robber.’ 

And yuh better believe that the Covid 19 pandemic, the worldwide strife, the race and religious problems and the many natural disasters of the last couple of years have indeed come upon us without our ever seeing them, much less being prepared for them. And later on in Proverbs, Cousin Sol mentions an interesting fact that ties in quite nicely with what we are talking about. 

He solemnly declares in chapter 24: ‘I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face (surface) thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep (rest): So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth (a prowler); and thy want (need) as an armed man.’ (Prov. 24:30-34) 

Oh friends, you noticed that Cousin Sol learned from the mistakes of the slothful man. And what did he learn? According to the scholars, he learned that ‘The slothful is too lazy to keep thorns and nettles out of his vineyard or to keep his stone wall repaired (vs.31). His laziness is further exhibited in sleeping late when he should be working (vs.33). Therefore, his poverty will come as one that traveleth: that is, a bandit or a vagabond. Small surrenders lead to great disasters.’ 

Now what wise words those are my fellow saints: ‘small surrenders lead to great disasters.’ It’s the gospel truth! It’s the li’l things in life that we despise and don’t do that ofttimes cause us a whale of a problem. And we are experiencing that in spades right now, with all the various problems howling around us and we don’t know how to solve them. However, if we had been paying attention all along, living the way Christ desires us to live, those many problems would not have caught us off guard, they might not have even seen the light of day. 

But sadly they have, so now we have to wake up from our slothful slumber and try to fix them as best we can. However the problems have gotten so deep and involved, that now we can only fix them with God’s divine help. So as the wise people we are (smile), let’s go to God, ashamed and repentant, but confident in His great mercy, and sincerely ask for His omnipotent help. 

Altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

Now, please remember that God doesn’t only listen to the words we speak, but more importantly checks out the motives of our hearts, to see if our words are truly sincere. And we all know what that means! Much LOVE!

…no right motives in hearts…no positive answers to prayer… 

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