Proverbs 24:33-34
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Someone once said that all of human history could be summed up in two sentences. The first is “What could it hurt?” followed sometime later by “How was I supposed to know?” Today’s verse is acutely aware of that summary of history. It is also aware that such things happen, not only on the Grand Cosmic Scale of Nations and Empires, but on the tiny microcosmic scale of this day, this annoying job, this bothersome task. The world is replete with tales, both fictional and true, of people who snooze and lose, who don’t bother to check that radar image of the odd formation of planes headed toward Pearl Harbor, who ignore iceberg warnings aboard the Titanic, who fall asleep when the good fairy has warned that this night the witch will take their daughter away forever, who nod off in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Son of God has urgently said “Watch.” Today, let us not be among those who sleep, but among those who remain awake and watch with Christ, so that the riches of his Spirit may be ours now and always.
