What's on the Menu? (Proverbs 19:24)

This is one of my most favorite verses in the book of Proverbs. I remember that one morning around a campfire I was enlightened concerning this verse.

"The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again." Proverbs 19:24, Amplified

This verse cannot be understood the way that it reads. It is mush too simple to think that a lazy man is too lazy to eat. We all know that this should not be the case, there are far too many people out there who are in fact lazy but do eat. I do not want to be stereotypical and say that they are all fat and lazy, for there are weight problems in every demographic, I am however, trying to get to a larger truth.

We have to understand that the man sitting at the table is ready to eat. He has made his desire clear. He has ordered something specific. The dish has been prepared by someone else. The dish has been delivered by someone else. The man has buried his hand in the dish and readied himself for the first bite, however he is not able to. Why? He is a lazy man.

Have you ever heard the expression, Your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Well I have another question, can one not truly understand the depth of his own laziness? Maybe laziness is the wrong word to use here. Well I do know that we can all appreciate the fact that one can set out to complete a task and not realize his unpreparedness.

That dish set before the lazy man is not necessarily food, it can be a plethora of things. When going to a restaurant we are given a menu by which we order our food. Too many times in life, I know for me, I have viewed prayer like this. There is a menu of things that I would like the Lord to perform in my life, things I would like to have and so on. The lazy man buried his hand in the dish because he did not realize what he was asking for. It was too much for him. Jesus has some simple words for us. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to mock him." (Luke 14:28-29, NKJV) I do not know about you, but I do not want to be mocked or forever be on the pages of a book as the man who buried his hand in the dish and he could not bring it back to his mouth again.