How long will you sleep, O sluggard? • Deshen Daily

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? (Proverbs 6:9 ESV)

Solomon poses the rhetorical question,“how long will you sleep, o sluggard?”. He goes further and asks, “when will you arise out of your sleep?”. He goes further to tell us what will happen if the sluggard does not arise from his sleep:

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:10–11 ESV).

Solomon reveals one of the most important, PRACTICAL truths about getting wealth: wealth follows work. You have heard me say this many times, that the Church camped around one side of the revelation about prosperity which is giving. You cannot study the scriptures and fail to see very clearly the importance of giving and its relationship to prosperity. However, God Himself has shown us in the WORD that giving by itself is NOT ENOUGH.

The sluggard is one whose hands are not doing any work that is productive. This is a state of sleep. Laziness is the central cause of sluggishness. However, it is not all. In fact, I would later learn from the word that I was financially a sluggard as the verse says! My hands were not doing things that create wealth except through my primary job. I cannot see any other reason why poverty is ravaging the Church more than this simple line right here. Believers are often not engaged in work that creates wealth as unbelievers do. May the Lord give you understanding of these things.

MEDITATE

How does work and giving fit in God’s plan of financial prosperity for us?

APPLY THE WORD

This is my question for you: what are you doing NOW that creates money? I want you to see for yourself the direct relationship between your ability to do things that meet people’s needs (work) and the amount of money in your pocket. Give God something to bless. Maybe you need to arise from financial sleep.