Walk through any major city in the world and you will find first hand evidence that appears to confirm that “life collapses on loafers; lazybones go hungry.” (Proverbs 19.16) People are living on the street without any apparent means of support, shelter, or regular meals. You can see if you choose how the children in these situations face a future that is at best bleak, apparently without hope, and filled with the worst that mankind has to offer itself.
We have seen it so often that our minds are numb. We continue to refuse to acknowledge what is in front of us. People must bear responsibility for decisions taken and choices made. People have opportunities to “get” out of situations; society is not responsible if they choose to remain where they are. Lifestyle choices have consequences; if we give people the freedom to make the choice then they must bear the impact of their freedom. At least this is what we tell ourselves.
God, thankfully, did not rationalize the impact of our free choice. Our forefathers chose the road that God has clearly told us would end in ruin, separation from life itself. We have full knowledge of what we were doing, except that we had never lived where hunger and danger were as common as hope was rare. Now we do. God sprang into action, some things we could see, others went on unnoticed. The choice that rests with you and I would be all too familiar to our forefathers.
Do we trust God? If we think we do, is our trust implicit, unreserved, and without limits?
Regardless, or actually because of my repeated failures, I know that for me the answer to the questions is yes, Yes, YEs, and YES!
My prayer is that I always see the loafers and lazy as God sees them (me). I cry out to God that when my mind cries for numbness that I reach in God’s bucket of love for compassion, mercy, and unconditional acceptance. For me, anything else is life collapsing on a loafer.
