Proverbs 6:11 (Mini Sermon)

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1.      Pro 6:11 – “So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

1. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,
   1. Sleeping excessively leads to poverty (Pro 20:13; Pro 23:21).
      1. Poverty n. – 1. The condition of having little or no wealth or material possessions; indigence, destitution, want (in various degrees: see poor a. 1).
      2. Sleeping too much causes poverty because the sluggard is sleeping instead of working.
      3. If he would get up and work, he would be filled with food and necessary possessions (Pro 20:13).
   2. The poverty of the sluggard will come “as one that travelleth.”
      1. Travel – 1. To torment, distress; to suffer affliction; to labour, toil; to suffer the pains of parturition; etc.: see travail v. 1–4. 2. a. intr. To make a journey; to go from one place to another; to journey. Also fig.
      2. Travelers (especially in Biblical times) showed up unexpectedly (2Sa 12:4; Job 31:32).
      3. Likewise, poverty will not come to the sluggard immediately, but it will show up when he is not expecting it.
         • If the sluggard fails to plant in the cold weather of spring, he may have enough food to get him through the summer, but he will suffer later when the next harvest doesn’t come (Pro 20:4).
         • If we don’t work and save money while we can, poverty will eventually catch up with us years later when we are old and can’t work anymore.
      4. It often takes years for sin to catch up with us, but it always will (1Ti 5:24-25; Gal 6:7).
   3. and thy want as an armed man.
      1. The sluggard will be left in poverty.
         1. Want n. – 1. predicatively, or quasi-adj. (Something that is) wanting, missing. In Ormin const. with dative. rare. (last usage in 1400)  2. a. Deficiency, shortage, lack (of something desirable or necessary, esp. a quality or attribute).    3. a. The state of lacking the necessaries of life; penury; destitution. Also, the condition of lacking food; famine; starvation. to come to want: to be reduced to penury.
         2. Penury n. – 1. The condition of being destitute of or straitened in the necessaries of life; destitution, indigence, want; poverty.
         3. Destitution – 1. The action of deserting or forsaking. Obs. (not used until 1656)  2. Deprivation of office; discharge; dismissal.  3. a. The condition of being abandoned or left helpless, of being deprived or bereft (of anything).  b. The condition of wanting or being lacking (of or †in anything); want.  4. spec. The condition of being destitute of resources; want of the necessaries of life.
      2. His want will come as “an armed man.”
         1. Armed ppl. – 1. lit. Furnished with arms or armour; fully equipped for war.
         2. Armed men are men of war who come to conquer and destroy.
         3. Want (poverty and destitution) will come to the sluggard like an invading soldier who will not spare.
         4. Like an armed soldier, poverty will destroy the sluggard (Pro 10:15).
         5. The idle soul shall suffer hunger just as the people of a conquered country (Pro 19:15).

Take heed and abstain from laziness because poverty will come upon the sluggard unexpectedly and mercilessly.