Proverbs 13:4

The appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing,
but the desire of the diligent will be abundantly satisfied.

Do you ever find yourself going to the cupboard in the hopes of finding exactly what you want to eat right now, but then realize that everything in there will require a certain amount of time? So you don’t make it, you just keep grabbing little bits of food here and there. It should be noted that I am not a cook, and I don’t like cooking things. So, if I’m hungry and go to the pantry, I’m looking for something that will help satisfy my appetite with the least amount of cooking required.

It is my impatience with cooking that keeps my from having my appetite satisfied. I guess you could say I’m lazy when it comes to cooking. I just don’t want to. So I don’t. So, if my wife isn’t around and I get hungry – I crave food, but I get nothing. If I were diligent with my cooking, I could be abundantly satisfied in a short amount of time. I’d realize that I could take just a few minutes to make something and it would do a lot more to fill me than pretzels.

While this is certainly true of food, I don’t think this proverb is limited to food. I think it can really relate to anything in life. When we approach life from the sluggard mindset, we always want but we never have the diligence to follow through. We may want to have more money, but we don’t have the diligence to work a little harder to make the money. We may want to get in shape, but we don’t have the diligence to exercise regularly enough to be healthy. We may want to be a better spouse, but we don’t have the diligence to spend some time each day working on it. We may want to grow closer to God, but we don’t have the diligence to spend time with him each day.

What is there in your life right now that you want? What is it you crave? To get out of debt? To be in better shape? More intimacy in your marriage? More intimacy with God? Whatever it is, it will not come by going to the cupboard and hoping you will find it there on a shelf to grab and devour in your moment of desperation. Instead, you will find it in the recipe book. There will be things you need to do, it will take time to prepare it and time to cook it. But the end result is much better tasting and much better for you.