Loving sleep leads to poverty, while staying awake to the day's work leads to provision.
Diligence appears in Proverbs 20:13: Do not love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food (v. 13). The verse distinguishes the gift of rest from the love of unconsciousness.
To love sleep is different from receiving sleep as a gift. Solomon names the love of sleep as a preference for unconsciousness over engagement with the day. Treating rest as the destination rather than as preparation for the work that produces provision leads to poverty.
To open your eyes is poetic shorthand for being awake to the day God has given. The diligent person who turns toward the work in front of him will be satisfied with food. Diligence in the daylight hours is one of the ordinary paths by which God provides.
Proverbs 20:13
13 Do not love sleep, or you will become poor;
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.
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Proverbs 20:13 meaning
Diligence appears in Proverbs 20:13: Do not love sleep, or you will become poor; open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food (v. 13). The verse distinguishes the gift of rest from the love of unconsciousness.
To love sleep is different from receiving sleep as a gift. Solomon names the love of sleep as a preference for unconsciousness over engagement with the day. Treating rest as the destination rather than as preparation for the work that produces provision leads to poverty.
To open your eyes is poetic shorthand for being awake to the day God has given. The diligent person who turns toward the work in front of him will be satisfied with food. Diligence in the daylight hours is one of the ordinary paths by which God provides.