Buried in the Bowl

"The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth."

Proverbs 26:15

When I think of this passage a story comes to mind.  Years ago a co-worker told me about a small dog (Chihuahua mix) he owned that had a voracious appetite.  Having bought a new bag of dog food, on a whim he decided to see how much the dog would actually eat.  He cut the top off the bag and laid it down for the hungry and frantic pup's special "all you can eat" meal.  After leaving for awhile, he returned to see how the dog was doing.  The dog was completely exhausted and full, laying on his side with his head in the bag, seemingly unable to move but humorously drew an occasional morsel into his mouth with his tongue.

The lazy man in Solomon's parable is like a fellow who has a bowl of food in front of him--in his own hand even--but it seems too much work to move his hand from the bowl to his mouth.  The irony is someone had gathered or purchased ingredients, prepared the food beforehand, and yet the sluggard determines feeding himself is just too difficult.  The survival of his body depends upon being adequately fed, yet the labour involved is unreasonable.  The work is already mostly done for him, but he cannot see the benefit of working even when he directly benefits from it.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a lazy, slothful person.  Working and eating are privileges from God to be celebrated in moderation.  It is possible we can overwork to be rich and overeat and be full; we can shun both of these things to coddle the lazy flesh with idleness.  There are many things we can be busy with that are not productive, useful, or beneficial to ourselves or others.  Paul called out believers in the church over this in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-13:  "For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; ⁸ nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labour and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, ⁹ not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. ¹¹ For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. ¹² Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. ¹³ But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good."

Paul set an example of a good worker, one who contributed with labour day and night.  He worked for his food instead of expecting others to provide it for free.  He laid down the principle if a person would not work, they should not eat.  Understand many of these people who would not work were very busy with prying into the lives of others, gossips, and tale-bearers.  The correct order was to work for their food, but these busybodies went from house to house trading bits of gossip for food.  These days we don't need to leave the lounge to engage in gossip, spreading rumours or slander online.  Paul exhorted and commanded such in Christ's name to find honest work and eat food they worked for.

There is a spiritual parallel to consider as well.  Think of the richness of God's Word which provides sustenance for our souls!  We hold the very words of God in our hand, yet we too can bury our hand in the bowl.  We have Bibles but do not bother reading them, or we read the words and are not intentional to practice it.  This spiritual laziness is more concerning to me than the lazy man whose hand rests idle in the bowl of chips or popcorn (revolting as that would be!).  Christians are called to walk in an orderly and honest manner, not to grow wearing in doing good in obedience to the LORD.  Having tasted and seen how good God is our conduct, words, and work ethic is to reflect the faithfulness of God's goodness to us; our possessions should be handled with generosity with the good of others in mind.  We aren't to talk a good game but to demonstrate it as Paul did, working in quietness and eating his own bread.

God has provided wondrous things for us in His Word, and it shameful when we are too lazy to bother to read or take them to heart.  He has already done all the work to give us all that pertains to life and godliness, so let's not bury our hands in the bowl. :)