Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4
Hard work has always been the key to success. Get rich quick is always a scam. Unless you have a big inheritance coming, the only way to become financially independent is to be diligent about working hard. Getting rich slowly is the way to do it right.
This is obviously closely related to principle 4 of avoiding laziness. I decided to include both because of how many times diligence is repeated in Proverbs.
Proverbs 12:24 – Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
Proverbs 13:4 – A sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 10:4 – Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Proverbs 21:5 – The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Just as a side note, profit is not a bad word. As much as some in the government and media would have you believe, it really is a good thing. When people work hard and provide a good or service that people want, profit is the result.
Let’s take deeper look at a few of the other verses. “The desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” If you have a desire and you work hard to fulfill you will be satisfied. If you don’t work hard and instead sit on the couch, you get nothing.
“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.” Everyone tries to vilify CEO’s, but guess what, they worked really hard to get where they are. You aren’t able to go that far without a little diligence. The lazy people end up working for them, or slaving away to them back in the case of the bankers. You can’t expect to get to the top without putting in any effort.
“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Anybody see a trend here? The point is obvious. God makes it clear that working hard and staying diligent when things get tough is a very good trait that will be rewarded. Being lazy and hoping for someone else to take care of you will make you poor and a slave. Whether that is a slave to debt, slave to job you hate, or slave to a government that holds your well-being in its hands. Any way you look at it things look much brighter for the diligent hard working person. Take your future into your hands and do something productive with it.
If you missed it, check out the whole list of principles in my intro post on the principles of finance found in Proverbs.
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Lazy is one of those four letter words that people tend to not use anymore. But you are exactly right. I recently was reading about reaping and sowing and how we can often interupt the nature cycle of events by intervening. The Bible says that if a man does not work he should not eat. That would be the reaping of laziness. Social programs are definately needed but need to find the balance to take these principles into consideration. Even those who are unemployed should not use it as an excuse to not work whether that comes in the form of a job hunt, volunteering, side business, or starting a blog 🙂
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