GATHERING OR SCATTERING
"He also that is
slack in his work is brother to him that is a destroyer" Prov. 18:9
In this Proverb a principle is involved
which has more superlative statement in other well-known words of Holy Writ. It
was in the mind of Deborah when she cursed Meroz for not coming to the help of
Jehovah against the mighty. It found explicit statement when our Lord said: “He that gathers not
with Me scatters." (Matt.
12:30) James recognized it when he wrote: “To him that knows to do good and does it not,
to him it is sin." (James
4:17) It means that in life there can be no neutrality. Every man lives in
the midst of a CONFLICT between good and evil. He must and does take part
therein. If he is not helping Jehovah against the mighty, he is helping the
mighty against Jehovah. His abstention is a gain to the foe. Every man lives
in a world where TWO FORCES ARE AT WORK; one is GATHERING the other is SCATTERING.
If he is not with the One Whose work it is to gather, he is exerting an
influence which scatters. Every man is confronted with the possibility of doing
good, or of doing evil. If he does not do the good when he knows it, he is
strengthening the cause of evil against which all goodness is always working.
This proverb applies this principle to work. CONSTRUCTIVE WORK is the law of
human life and progress. There is an active principle of DESTRUCTION operating
in the history of man; and he who is a slacker at his work, who does not put
into it all his strength, is a brother to the man who in wickedness sets
himself to the activity of destruction. No living being can be merely a
SPECTATOR. Each works or wastes. Not to work well, is to aid the process of
waste.
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