I tell my students all the time that you can absorb a lot of information if you pay attention to your surroundings in a car ride. Most young passengers tend to stare down at their phones and scroll, AirPods in, music on. I tell them they miss so much by not looking up and out the car window—new construction, road signs, houses, landmarks, etc. This introduction is not meant to be an indictment on the younger generation, but we all need to be attentive to the things around us.
This is what I thought of when I read Proverbs 24 earlier this week.
I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, And behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.
Proverbs 24:30-34 (ESV)
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
The writer noticed a field as he was passing by. It belonged to a lazy man who had not cultivated his land. The yard was a mess. His garden had life, but not the good kind. It had ugly weeds and thorns instead of fruit-bearing trees, green vegetables, and flowering bushes. The walls surrounding the perimeter of his property were gone. Continuous neglect and an attitude of sluggishness had crept in, and now this man has lost a field to the elements of destruction. This field’s great potential was wrecked.
Have you ever seen something like this before?
The writer saw the sluggard’s field, and he was paying attention. He saw the overgrown land, the broken wall, the neglect, and instead of just shaking his head and going about his business, he learned from it. He “saw and considered it” and “looked and received instruction.”
This is exactly what I try to remind my students about: you can learn so much just by looking up and paying attention. Life lessons are all around us if we’re willing to look, think, and learn.
When we get caught up in distractions and routines, we miss key warning signs. Like the lazy farmer in Proverbs 24, we don’t usually end with thorns and ruin overnight.
But the opposite is also true. Industriousness begins with paying attention. When we look up to Jesus Christ, he can restore what’s broken, remove what doesn’t belong, and remind us of what he wants us to do.
After all, Jesus was no sluggard. He worked. This was his prayer to the Father at the end of his ministry:
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
John 17:4b (NKJV)
There is so much wisdom in this world. We would be wise to look and learn from the sluggard. See his field, and be different.
Bee-Attitude
Blessed are those who look and learn from the sluggard, for they will escape the laziness that leads to poverty and destruction.
Grant Turner is the editor of the Barnesville Buzz and an educator, coach, and writer based in Barnesville, Georgia. He shares stories that bridge community, faith, and personal growth. In addition to teaching and coaching, Grant is Director of Musical Worship and a Sunday School teacher at New Hope Baptist Church in Zebulon, Georgia. He lives in Barnesville with his wife, Haley.
