angela hormberg

Tag: Laziness

  • Proverbs 10:5

    Proverbs 10:5

    What Proverbs 10:5 Teaches About Timing, Diligence, and Learning

    Commonplace –

    “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” (Proverbs 10:5).

    Proverbs 10:5 is about being diligent in season. It reminds me of a saying we have here in the south, “Make hay while the sun shines”. When a dry, sunny spell arrives, the hay farmer must seize the moment. Rainy weather causes the hay to mold and rot, which spoils the crop. So, the farmer has to keep a watchful eye on the hay to make sure it is ready for baling, and he also must keep an eye on the weather. When the day arrives in which the hay is dry and the weather is sunny, the farmer must be ready to act.

    Today most of us never experience that waiting game; our food arrives packaged and priced, leaving us detached from the rhythm of the fields. Separated from the crops, we lose the important connection of Solomon’s proverb about harvesting at just the right time. Yet, even growing one small plant can help us see the world from a farmer’s perspective. We may not depend on the fruit our little plant produces to stave off our hunger or supply our monetary needs, but taking the time to prepare the soil, plant the seed, and watch it grow helps us realize how much of the process is about the timing and the weather being just right. Through the process, we learn about being diligent and ready.

    Seeing life through the farmer’s lens helps us harvest the universal meaning from Solomon’s proverb. Matthew Henry shares the following helpful, practical wisdom in his Commentary on Proverbs 10:5, where he connects the farming references to life lessons.

    “He who gets knowledge and wisdom in the days of his youth gathers in the summer, and he will have the comfort and credit of his industry; but he who idles away the days of his youth will bear the shame of his indolence when he is old” (691).

    Proverbs 10:5 is timeless and speaks to us across the ages. We all have the potential to learn. Just as a farmer must watch the weather, we must watch the seasons of our own lives, being prepared for opportunity. Do we take the time? Much of my real learning, my self-directed learning, has come late in life. While we still have our wits about us, we can dig in and learn. What are you learning? What are you pursuing? What are you planting? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 10:5.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

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    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Proverbs Chapter 6

    Proverbs Chapter 6

    Commonplace –

    “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

    Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

    Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

    How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

    Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

    So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:6-11).

    Avoiding slothfulness is just one of the many important points Solomon touches on in Proverbs 6. In his summary on Proverbs 6, Matthew Henry notes,

    “We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interest, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this” (672).

    As Henry wisely observes in Proverbs Chapter 6, Solomon touches on many sins to avoid in our day to day dealings in the secular world:

    1. Avoid being a surety for others. If you do enter into such a situation, don’t stop working until the debt is paid.
    2. Avoid being lazy, because it leads to poverty.
    3. Avoid being froward, an ancient word that refers to contrariness. The examples Solomon gives are those of the wicked, cunning person, who devises “mischief continually” (v. 14).
    4. Avoid the following seven things, which God hates: “a proud look”, “a lying tongue”, “hands that shed innocent blood”, “a heart that devises wicked imaginations”, feet that run to mischief, being “a false witness that speaketh lies”, sowing “discord among brethren”.
    5. Avoid whorish women (and men).
    6. Avoid adultery.

    All of these things are sins, but, even if you don’t believe in sin, these things make life difficult.

    Instead, “keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not thy law of thy mother”, which hearkens back to Solomon’s words in Proverbs 1:8, “hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother”. Some may not have had fathers and mothers who imparted worthy instruction, which makes reading Proverbs all the more important and necessary. Solomon’s words to his own son serve as useful instruction to us, and the words of the Bible itself impart knowledge of the law. Therefore, we are without excuse.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 6.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg