Desire (Proverbs 21:25-26)

The lazy and the industrious man have this one thing in common: they both desire something. However, only one will receive that which he desires.

"The desire of the slothful man kills him, for his hands refuse to do labor. He covets greedily all day long, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous gives and does not withhold." Proverbs 21:25-26, Amplified

For the lazy man, desire does not become manifest because he refuses to take part in the process. Desire needs to become more in a life in order for it to become real. Had Bill Gates simply sat in his garage and desired to build a computer, Microsoft would never have been born. Many great men had desires to become more and do more in their lives, they took action. No one who has ever made a name for themselves have done so for inaction. Even Richard Heene took action to become more with his weather balloon hoax.

But the righteous man takes action on his desires and receives so much more than he needs that he has to give to others. Trust in the Lord and He will give you all that you need. Trust, faith and hope are all words that have action behind them. Neither conveys an idea of passiveness, especially when it comes to our relationships with the Lord.

Presumptuous Desire and Hastiness (Proverbs 19:2)

Solomon now covers two different things about knowledge and hastiness.

"Desire without knowledge is not good, and to be over-hasty is to sin and miss the mark." Proverbs 19:2, Amplified

Both are actually a little similar to each other. Let me explain. Both have to do with greed.

To desire something and not understand and know about it is just silly. Every child sits in front of the television and tells mom and dad that they want every toy in every commercial. They have no idea about the cost of the toy, or even if they will really like it, but they know that they want it. We can also do this this as adults, only we have the power and the money to act on such impulses. These impulses can lead to horrible investment decisions. So it would be better to lift everything up in prayer and take in as much knowledge about what it is that you desire. It could be the gas mileage on that car you want, or the foundation of the house that you want.

Hastiness is a sister of greed. It makes us hurry to get to a certain point because we are afraid that someone else might get there first. Hastiness turns everything into a race.

We can liken these two parts of the verse to each other in that if we are hasty we are not bathing anything in prayer and were are in danger of missing the mark. An archer does not hasten to release his arrow. Rather he sits patiently waiting for his aim to be precise because he does not want to miss the mark.

In our lives, presumptuous desire and hastiness might just be our down fall.