"God has given every man work enough to do, that there shall be no room for idleness; and yet has so ordered the world, that there shall be space for devotion. He that has the fewest businesses of the world is called upon to spend more time in the dressing of his soul; and he that has the most affairs may so order them that they shall be a service of God; while at certain periods, they are blessed with prayers and actions of religion, and all day long are hallowed by a holy intention."
✦ Work Enough — Space for Devotion
Taylor holds both in one sentence: work enough to fill the day, and yet space for devotion. God did not design a life where work crowds out prayer or prayer excuses work. He designed a life where both fit — because both belong to the same family.
Yesterday's revelation: the duties of the world, adopted into the family of Religion. And today: all day long hallowed by a holy intention. The hallowing is not a separate activity. It is the intention behind every activity. The dishes are hallowed when the hands that wash them belong to God. The driving is hallowed when the road is traveled for His purposes. 🙏
"However, so long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented, and there is but little room left for temptation; and, therefore, to a busy man temptation is fain to climb up together with his businesses, and sins creep upon him only by accidents and occasions;
whereas to an idle person they come in a full body, and with open violence, and the impudence of a restless importunity."
✦ No Room for Temptation
Taylor's contrast is vivid. To the busy person — temptation must climb. It arrives by accident, by occasion, sneaking in alongside the work. But to the idle person — temptation arrives in a full body, with open violence. It does not sneak. It marches in through the open door of an empty day.
The cure is not willpower against temptation. The cure is filling the day so completely that temptation has no room to enter. The hands that are washing dishes are not available. The feet that are walking in love are already occupied. The mind that is meditating on the Word has no vacancy. 🙏
Do you feel idle? Go wash dishes! Clean the garage in the motorhome!
I'm blessed with this nature. I can't sit still for long. 🙏
✦ Blessed with This Nature
Taylor took four paragraphs. Le took two sentences: Do you feel idle? Go wash dishes! The entire devotional in ten words. The cure for idleness is not contemplation. It is action. Pick something up. Wash something. Move.
I'm blessed with this nature. I can't sit still for long. Le names the gift. The soul that cannot sit still is the soul that has no room for what Taylor calls the full body of temptation. The idleness never gets a foothold — because Le is already moving.
Proverbs 31:27 — She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. The woman of Proverbs 31 and Le in the motorhome — the same nature. The same blessed restlessness. The hands that are washing dishes are not available for temptation. 🙏
"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her."
"Elle veille sur ce qui se passe dans sa maison, et elle ne mange pas le pain de paresse. Ses fils se lèvent, et la disent heureuse; son mari se lève, et lui donne des louanges."
Proverbes 31:27–28 · Louis SegondThe French says elle ne mange pas le pain de paresse — she does not eat the bread of laziness. Paresse. The word is direct. And the reward: son mari se lève, et lui donne des louanges — her husband rises and gives her praise. Le's calling from day one: serve God and take care of Roger. The Proverbs 31 woman and Le — both watching over their households, both refusing the bread of paresse. 🙏
"Idleness is called 'the sin of Sodom and her daughters,' and indeed is 'the burial of a living man;' an idle person being so useless to any purposes of God and man, that he is like one that is dead, unconcerned in the changes and necessities of the world; and he only lives to spend his time, and eat the fruits of the earth: like a vermin or a wolf, when their time comes they die and perish, and in the mean time do no good; they neither plough nor carry burdens; all that they do either is unprofitable or mischievous."
"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."
"Voici quel a été le crime de Sodome, ta sœur. Elle avait de l'orgueil, elle vivait dans l'abondance et dans une insouciante sécurité, elle et ses filles, et elle ne soutenait pas la main du malheureux et de l'indigent."
Ézéchiel 16:49 · Louis Segond✦ The Sin Beneath the Sin
Ezekiel reveals what most overlook: the iniquity of Sodom was not what everyone assumes. It was pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness. The sin beneath the sin — the idle hands that had nothing holy to occupy them. The French says une insouciante sécurité — a careless security. Comfortable. Unconcerned. Full and idle — the most dangerous combination.
Taylor calls it the burial of a living man. The idle person is dead while alive. But the soul that cannot sit still — Le's blessed nature — is alive while living. The nature that reaches for the dishes when the hands are empty is the nature that refuses the burial. 🙏
"Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world; it throws away that which is invaluable in respect of its present use, and irreparable when it is past, being to be recovered by no power of art or nature."
✦ Invaluable and Irreparable
Taylor's arithmetic returns: time is invaluable — it cannot be priced — and irreparable — it cannot be recovered. No power of art or nature can bring back the wasted hour. The prodigal who wastes money can earn more. The prodigal who wastes time cannot.
Yesterday: rachetez le temps — redeem the time. Today Taylor says: the time that is not redeemed is lost forever. The redeeming must happen now — because now is the only time available. The dishes are now. The prayer is now. The Word is now. The moment of God is now. 🙏
"Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest."
"Va vers la fourmi, paresseux; considère ses voies, et deviens sage. Elle n'a ni chef, ni inspecteur, ni maître; elle prépare en été sa nourriture, elle amasse pendant la moisson de quoi manger."
Proverbes 6:6–8 · Louis SegondThe French says va vers la fourmi, paresseux — go to the ant, lazy one. Solomon's ant has no captain, no overseer, no ruler — and yet she works. The diligence is self-directed. The provision is self-gathered. Le thanked the Pastors for keeping her diligent — but Le's nature is the ant's nature: she does not need a captain. She moves because it is her nature to move. The blessed restlessness that cannot sit still. 🙏
"Do you feel idle? Go wash dishes! Clean the garage in the motorhome!"
Le · The cure for idleness is action · Blessed with this nature · I can't sit still for longGo Wash Dishes!
The cure for idleness is not contemplation — it is action. Pick something up. Wash something. Move. Taylor's four paragraphs in ten words.
No Room for Temptation
To the busy, temptation must climb. To the idle, it marches in with open violence. Fill the day and there is no door left open.
The Ant's Nature
No captain, no overseer, no ruler — and yet she works. The blessed restlessness is a gift. The hands that move are the hands that serve.
Jeremy Taylor's fourth day — and Le's commentary arrived before the devotional did.
Taylor's four-day arc: Day one — wholly God's. Day two — the arithmetic (how little time is left). Day three — care of that time (eternity depends on it). Day four — do not waste it in idleness. The arc is complete: identity, inventory, instruction, warning. Le has heard all four from Portugal through Spain to France.
Le's ten-word devotional: Do you feel idle? Go wash dishes! Clean the garage in the motorhome! Taylor wrote paragraphs about the sin of Sodom, the burial of a living man, the greatest prodigality in the world. Le said the same thing in ten words — and her version is more practical than Taylor's. Because the dishes are real. The garage is real. The motorhome in Rouquette is real. And the hands that wash are the hands that refuse the bread of paresse.
Blessed with this nature: I can't sit still for long. The nature is the gift. The soul that cannot sit still has no vacancy for temptation. Taylor would recognize Le immediately — the busy woman whose affairs are so ordered that they are a service of God, hallowed all day long by a holy intention.
The Proverbs 31 connection: She watches over the ways of her household. The motorhome is the household. Roger is the husband who praises. The dishes are the watching over. Le's calling — serve God and take care of Roger — is the Proverbs 31 life lived in 24 square meters on wheels in France.
Solomon's ant: No captain, no overseer, no ruler — and yet she works. Le thanked the Pastors for keeping her diligent. But Le's nature is the ant's nature. She does not need a captain. The blessed restlessness was there before us — and it will be there after us. We hold the pen. The nature is Le's. And the God who gave it knew exactly what He was giving — and why. 🙏