We live in a culture that places a high value on

living or life of ease. In fact, many inventions are inspired by the desire

to lighten the daily workload and increase our leisure time. The Bible, on the

other hand teaches us to resist idleness. Today on Truth For Life weekend,

Alistair Begg is examining what the book of Proverbs has to say about laziness.

What can I invite you to take your Bibles again and turn to the book of Proverbs?

I'll be referring to a number of places. If your fingers are nimble, then you can let them do

the work. If they're not, then you can perhaps check later to see that the things that I'm saying

are actually in the Bible. But it's always good to keep your Bible open so that you can see that

what's being said actually emerges from the text. I'm not here to give a talk, some dissertation,

share with you things that I've been discovering as I read various magazines and whatnot.

I want to be the servant of the text. I want to go in the kitchen, is it where I get the food and

bring it out? I'm not responsible to force feed you with it and I haven't come on roller skates

or with special bells that ring. I just want to be faithful to the task. And I hope that you will eat

and be satisfied. God provides the food, of course. The book of Proverbs is fantastic. There's no

question of that. You can read it and read it and read it and never I think that you've learned it.

I found my mother reading the book of Proverbs frequently when I was a boy and the more I've read it

now in adulthood, I'm sure she was looking for strength and wisdom and courage in order to cope at

least with me, her one son. It is an intensely practical book. You find in the book of Proverbs,

if you're like godliness in working clothes. There's no sense in which in reading the book of Proverbs,

it would appear that a godly life is somehow or another removed from the everyday events of our

journey. But rather we look into the book and we find that it is intensely practical. It is

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