No Call for Being Politically Correct In the Bible
The Bible is not politically correct. It just says what it says and makes no apologies about it. People, on the other hand, have been trying to apologize for the bluntness of Scripture since its beginning.
I usually don’t mind the bluntness – especially when it’s not referring to me.
When the Word gets personal, being politically correct sometimes feels like a better path.
This morning the bluntness slapped me squarely in the face. The alarm went off, and I rolled over. I figured that since the last three mornings had started around 3 am, I was entitled. Besides, I knew my husband’s alarm would go off at any second. Ten minutes later, the screeching of his alarm woke me.
This time, when I rolled over, a scripture popped into my head. And it echoed there until I got up and got going. My husband did not get this same verse, or else he has the ability to ignore the nagging that I don’t have. Either way, I was up to greet the day all alone.
As a door turns on its hinges, so does the slothful man turn in his bed.
– Proverb 26:14
In other words, don’t roll over. Someone who rolls over instead of getting up and getting going is like a door turning on its hinges. It doesn’t get much done because it’s flopping back and forth.
It dawned on me as the sun was dawning itself, just how rude that particular scripture was. If someone had said something like that to my face, it would have been an insult. But the words make so much sense that it is hard to argue.
When I get up the first time my body wakes, my day is much smoother. If I choose to roll over and go back to sleep, the sleep is never satisfying. Usually, it’s filled with strange dreams that are a combination of being half asleep and half awake. Often the dreams involve a piece of whatever I was watching or doing the night before. I end up waking more tired than I was the first time I woke.
Getting right out of the bed has additional benefits. I get quiet time. The morning hours won’t be interrupted by children hanging on my legs, or phone calls, or even noises from outside. All is peaceful.
No wonder the old saying is “the early bird catches the worm.” It’s because there is so little competition to deal with, and there are far fewer distractions. And it sounds so much better than “it’s a lazy man that turns in his bed.”
Telling me not to roll over when the alarm sounds may not be politically correct and some days it may not even be nice, but it does motivate me to get up and get going.
Proverbs 26:14 As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. (KJV)
Was that the scripture you had in mind? I will quote my favorite commentator, John Gill:
Ver. 14. [As] the door turneth upon his hinges,…. And moves this way and that way, and opens and shuts, and yet hangs where it did, is not moved from its place:
so [doth] the slothful upon his bed; he turns himself from side to side, but is still on his bed, and does not move out of it, and go about his business. Aben Ezra makes mention of another reading and sense, “the door turneth upon his hinges”, and is opened to let men out, one and another, to his work; “but [yet] the slothful man [is] upon his bed”; though one and another rise and go about business, and he hears the door open again and again, he stirs not, but keeps his, bed. So profane sinners lie on the bed of sinful lusts and sensual pleasures, indulge themselves in chambering and wantonness, and do not care to rise from hence, and walk honestly as in the daytime; and though their consciences are sometimes jogged by inward pricks, and they are moved a little by the reproofs of their friends, or awakened by the judgments of God; yet these are quickly over, and they give themselves a turn and go to sleep again: sometimes there are some motions in them, some thoughts and resolutions of amendment, some purposes to do good works; but, alas! their slothfulness is so great, and the habits and customs of sin so strong, that they cannot break through them, shake off their sloth, and come out, but remain as they were: and so it is with carnal professors, resting in their own works, and in a round of duties; and after ten, twenty, thirty years’ profession, or more, they are just where they were; have no spiritual knowledge, judgment, and experience.
Let me know if this helps.
Michael
Hey Micheal,
You are right, that is the scripture I used. But I was thinking there was one that said something along the lines of “only a fool rolls over after waking up.”
I do like the commentary you offered. There is no denying it’s point.
I’ve been busy.
This is the only thing I can think of:
Pro 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Pro 6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Pro 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (KJV)
Here’s what Matthew Henry has to say:
Pro 6:6-11 – Diligence in business is every man’s wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others, or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothful men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus life runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, gradually draws near, like a traveller; and when it arrives, is like an armed man, too strong to be resisted. All this may be applied to the concerns of our souls. How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness! Shall we not seek to awaken such? Shall we not give diligence to secure our own salvation?
Maybe I will think of something else.
Michael