The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be murdered in the streets!" (Proverbs 22:13 NIV)

This statement immediately raises an important question for some of us: "What is a 'sluggard'?" Fortunately, dictionary.com provides a quick answer:

sluggard (n.): a person who is habitually inactive or lazy

From this, we can infer at least two things: 1) Lazy people use extraordinary excuses to justify their laziness. 2) Justifiable fear can cause otherwise active people to become inactive.

I have seen this played out in a great number of ways. I have seen perfectly healthy men justify not looking for work. I have seen women justify not leaving their abusive husband or boyfriend. I have seen addicts justify their habits. In this article, I'd like to focus on this passage as it pertains to doing the work of God. The following is an Aesop's fable entitled "The Son and the Painted Lion".

There was a timid old man who was afraid of his only son's passion for hunting, for the son was full of courage. In a dream he saw that his son would be killed by a lion. Dreading that the dream would come true, the father built a dwelling for his son of great magnificence, set in a high place where he could keep his eye on him. In order to distract and please him, he had commissioned for his chamber paintings of every kind of animal, and among these was a lion. But looking at all these did not distract the young man from his boredom.

One day, he approached the painting and cursed the lion in it:
'You damned beast, it's because of you and my father's lying dream that I am cooped up here in this prison for women. What can I do to you?'

And, as he said this, he struck his fist against the wall to blind the lion. But a splinter got lodged under his fingernail and he could not get it out. This became greatly inflamed, brought on a fever and swelled up to an enormous size. The fever raged so fiercely that the young man died of it.

The lion, even though it was only a painted one, had indeed killed the young man, just as his father had foreseen.