Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Wisdom of Work | The Writings | Proverbs 6

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Are you tempted by laziness? What's the line between resting and rotting? How do I work hard without overworking myself? In today's episode, Jensen looks at Proverbs 6, pointing us to an ancient example of wise work: the ant. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Proverbs 6

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Have you ever heard of bed rotting? It was a trending topic on TikTok and has become a new form of self-care, especially with Gen Z. Bed rotting is exactly what it sounds like. You rot in your bed, metaphorically. Thousands of videos chronicling people spending the whole day in their beds, eating, their meals, watching their shows, reading a book, scrolling on social media, and they never

leave their bed. The self-care aspect of it relates to the fact that people are burnt out, overstimulated, and need a day or two to unwind, relax, not deal with any of the stress in their lives. Now, personally, I would love a good bed rotting day, although they've become almost non-existent since having children. No matter how burnt out I get, my kids don't seem to understand that Mommy needs to stay in bed all day, eating pizza and watching HGTV. Go figure. But one psychologist responded to the trend of bed rotting, saying that bed rotting for one or two days in response to a period of overwork can be good. It can reduce stress and help ease exhaustion.

The trend can even give people permission to take a break in a society that often idolizes busyness. But an MD did respond with a warning. Bed rotting is only helpful when it comes in short bursts. If bed rotting were to become habitual, it could be a sign of a larger mental health problem. Less is more, they say. The more you bed rot, the more stressed you may actually become. It could disrupt sleep, lead to anxiety as you spend more hours on your phone,

reduce productivity in life, and can even lead people into deeper states of depression. Essentially, bed rotting is all good until it isn't. Now, you may not be Gen Z, and you may think that bed rotting doesn't sound all that tempting. But even so, it's hard to deny that in our modern times, we crave convenience over commitment, ease over accomplishment, and comfort over hard work. We love a drive-thru and grocery pickup. We don't even have to get out of the car. Better yet, we love DoorDash and Instacart.

We don't even have to leave our house. AI is beginning to automate many tasks that we once had to do on our own. Zoom allows us to never leave our houses to do our work. Technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us, making our lives easier, more comfortable, maybe a little lazier. Now, AI and technological advances, drive-thrus and Instacart, they're not inherently bad, but they do show us what we desire as a society. We desire ease, comfort, convenience.

Here's the thing. A long, long time ago, the book of Proverbs was written, and in chapter six, we find a father giving his son advice on how to live life well in God's kingdom. What we see here aren't laws, but they are rules for living, rules that if this father's son will live by, he will see his life flourish by the standards of God's kingdom. He'll be living in the way he was created to live. And in this chapter, we find the father warning his son of three different foolish things he could fall into. And the second one on this list is where we're going to spend our time today.

In these middle six verses, we will see the father urge his son to stay far away from laziness. He warns him against becoming a sluggard. And in it, I think you and I will find a warning as well. Let's dive into the first three verses. Verse six. Go to the aunt, you sluggard. Consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer, or ruler. Yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. The father tells his son to watch the ways of an aunt, and in doing so, he will become wise. In verse six, we see a contrast between. the sluggard and the wise, the ant. You're not living wisely if you're living in the way of the sluggard.

And we'll come back to exactly what that lifestyle looks like in a moment. But for now, let's consider what makes the aunt wise. Well, first, we learn that the aunt is self-motivated. No one's telling him what to do. No one is telling him to work or care for his knees or gather or provide. He just does it. It says he stores. He stores. provisions in summer and gathers food at harvest. So the aunt goes out and puts in hard work of his own accord. But I want us to also notice that the father speaks of specific times and ways that the aunt works. Sometimes his work is less active. He stores provisions. He manages what he has. He does not try to harvest in the summer. That would be fruitless. Instead, he waits for harvest time to go out

and to actually gather the food. The aunt is wise. He considers his own strength. He considers his capacity, and he considers the time of year. The father here isn't saying that the opposite of a foolish sluggard is to be an overworked,

over-exhausted, burnt-out worker, but to be a wise aunt, a thoughtful worker, not afraid of hard work, self-motivated, but smart about what he takes on and when. knowing when is the time to pull back and when is the time to lean in. And you cannot know those kinds of things, accomplish these kinds of tasks,

by sitting back and living a sluggard's life. So let's continue on and get a better picture of the folly of the sluggard. Verse 9. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. So the sluggard is described as someone who lies around for long periods of time. They may not see the problem with their

actions saying things like, it's only a little sleep. I'm only resting for a moment. It's only a little here and there. But what we see with a sluggard is that a little here and there has become a habit of their life. They are habitually resting, habitually slumbering, habitually letting life pass them by as they seek ease, comfort, convenience. And verse 11 tells us what can become of the sluggard. Remember, this is a general rule, not a promise, not a prophecy, not a guarantee. But with no nuance, verse 11 tells us that poverty will come like a thief, scarcity like an armed man. The sluggard may not realize it, but as they become more and more comfortable, as they step back from life more and more, they will not see the ruin that is head for them. It will come unexpectedly and swiftly,

stealing from them and leaving them without good things. Now, of course, the father and son of Proverbs lived in a very different culture, in a very different time. To not work, to lay around all day, would have maybe more swiftly and aggressively led someone into financial ruin. But I can't help but think of the scientific advice of the MD talking about bed rotting. There's nothing wrong with resting for a time. But when it becomes habitual, when we slowly turn into sluggards, it can leave us in ruin, sleepless, depressed, stressed, anxious. Sometimes the thing that we turn to for self-care can actually harm us. Sometimes the thing that we turn to for self-care can actually harm us. Sometimes the things that culture tells us are wise, good for us,

healthy, are actually leading to our ruin. That's why we look to the ancient wisdom found in scripture. It urges us to look to the aunt, to be wise like the aunt. Don't overwork yourself. Don't fill your life with busyness to overcome sluggish ways. No, be wise, be self-motivated, be strategic and smart in your choices. Take taking on what is necessary at the right time and resting when the time is right. If we want to have a good picture of what it looks like to live wisely with our time and our efforts, then we should look to Jesus. We look to Jesus who lived a perfect life here on earth,

working as a carpenter and then a teacher, spending hours working with his hands to build practical things, spending his days healing the sick, teaching the people into the long hours of the night. but also withdrawing to pray, to spend time with the father and to rest. He allowed others to care for him when he needed. He slept and he worked hard, looking to his heavenly father to sustain his human frailty. We don't want to fall prey to the wisdom of our day,

to fall into sluggish ways or push ourselves into unsustainable overwork. There is another way, an ancient way, the way of the way of, of wisdom, not living for our own benefit, for our own profit, but motivated by the same desire that Jesus was, to see God's kingdom come into our lives, into our world. In a world where convenience, ease, and comfort are offered at our fingertips, where cultural advice can lead us to harmful ways of self-care, we must be on guard against the ways of the sluggard. We have to model our lives after Jesus, with wisdom that comes from our creator and not our culture.