Devotionals - Bible Studies for Students - Week of July 12

The Problem with Laziness

Verse:  Proverbs 24

Becoming a sluggard requires little effort

Proverbs 24:33-- A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief.

The “sluggard” is lazier than a pig on vacation. His only exercise is turning on his bed; Proverbs says he is hinged to it. Any farfetched excuse—“There is a lion in the road!”—will keep him from going to work. Proverbs laughs at the sluggard a little, but uses him to teach serious lessons. You can be like him very easily, for it doesn’t require much: “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.” Putting things off, making excuses, sleeping in—who doesn’t sometimes fall victim to these tendencies?

The result of such a life? Poverty, frustration, broken relationships. The sluggard still wants the luxuries hard work earns, but he never gets them. “The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him” ( Proverbs 21:25 ).

Proverbs on laziness:  Proverbs 6:6–11 ;  10:4 ,  26 ;  12:24 ,  27 ;  13:4 ;  15:19 ; 19:15 ,  24 ;  20:4 ;  21:25 ;  22:13 ;  24:30–34 ;  26:13–16 .

Life Questions

What attributes of a sluggard do you recognize in yourself? Do you think of these as serious?

This devotion is from the NIV Student Bible by Zondervan. Used with permission.

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