Proverbs 26:15 Commentary and Bible Study

This proverb has been seen before in chapter 19:24. It presents us with a deliberately absurd picture to illustrate the foolishness of laziness. Here is a man who has a plate of good food in front of him, well within reach, and he is not without an appetite. But in his case even his own hunger is not enough to make him feed himself. His hand remains as if it were hidden in the bowl. Food is readily available and had been attractively prepared and placed in front of him. Only the smallest effort is needed to complete the process of consuming it, yet slothfulness prevents him putting the food in his mouth. This is of course an absurd exaggeration when it comes to the physical world, for we could not imagine a person so foolish as to behave like this, yet it is not an exaggeration in the spiritual realm. God has set before us spiritual food in the form of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It should be highly attractive to us because it provides us with exactly what we want to address the needs of our souls, and it provides what is not to be found anywhere else. There is no other name given to men by which we can be saved. We have a desperate need in the form of souls that are polluted by sin, having a debt to God which we can never repay, and facing a lost eternity from which we cannot redeem ourselves. Christ has provided perfectly for our need by taking our punishment and setting us free from out debt to God, and by providing a righteousness which makes us fit for heaven. He requires only that we humble ourselves in repentance and come to him for salvation by trusting in his dying work on Calvary. We have only to move, as it were, our hand to our mouths, but we cannot bring ourselves to do this. Without his work in our hearts we remain stubbornly resistant to his call, and our souls remain in a state of starvation when all the time salvation is within our reach.