8 He who sows iniquity will reap vanity,
And the rod of his fury will perish.
9 He who [e]is generous will be blessed,
For he gives some of his food to the poor.
10 Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out,
Even strife and dishonor will cease.
11 He who loves purity of heart
And [f]whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,
But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside;
I will be killed in the streets!”
14 The mouth of [g]an adulteress is a deep pit;
He who is cursed of the Lord will fall [h]into it.
15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
16 He who oppresses the poor to make [i]more for himself
Or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
In these verses, we see a lot of things we should do, or things we should avoid. And in the middle of it all, this nut case (v. 13) who won’t go to work because there might be a lion outside his door. Now most of us would look at that, laugh a bit, and move right along. But the sluggard knows there isn’t a lion, he just doesn’t want to leave the comforts of home. He doesn’t want to do what he is supposed to, so he’ll make up any excuse.
If it isn’t a lion, it’s a bear, or a car accident, or COVID… See, the sad sluggard isn’t alone in this ruse, he has plenty of friends. How many of us (me included), make excuses because we don’t want to do what God tells us. Maybe we’re afraid of something, likely something that has no chance of happening, like the lion in the street, and we let that cripple us.
We also operate on the mistaken assumption that we’re safe at home, that nothing bad can happen so long as we don’t go out in the street where that lion lurks. Truth is, we have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion, and he doesn’t care about walls or doors. But he’d much rather we stay comfortable, that we stay safe, that we ignore what God says, and do what feels good and easy.
Even in this passage, the one who takes from the poor to get more for himself is doomed for poverty. You’d think he would be safe with more money, more land, more, more, more. But a man with those scruples is never safe. Instead, we need to follow God’s ways, so lets put aside our excuses, and ask, what is God asking me to do?
Giving isn’t comfortable (v. 9), nor is saying goodbye to a friend who is a bad influence (v. 10). But the other end of those is peace even when it doesn’t make sense. It’s God’s peace, found in doing God’s will, that keeps our hearts from melting at the thought of a roaring lion. Nothing, not even a roaring lion, can stand against God. Only your excuses keep you from following, so put those away, and put on the full armor of God and start walking.