For the last week or so, the Lord’s been bringing up the term ‘idle hands.’ And this scripture came up: Proverbs 16:27
27 Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece.
This is NOT the time to be idle with your hands now! What does this mean exactly? This is more than just being reluctant to being employed. There’s something much deeper the Lord is addressing here. It’s not a time to relax, especially in warfare. David said, “He teaches my hands to fight, and my fingers to war…” (Ps. 144:1). In addition, he said, “He TRAINS my hands FOR battle.” (Ps. 18:34). There is a major spiritual war occurring now on the Body of Christ, and for people to walk into who they are to be in the Lord fully, so this IS NOT the time to relax or idle your hands in battle. Hands symbolize many things in the spirit realm and how you ‘use them’ or understand spiritual things will affect how you grow spiritually (or not, if not used accordingly by the leading of the Spirit).
Washing hands—is a symbol of innocence (Ps. 26:6; Ps. 73:13; Matt. 27:24). In this time, we must have ourselves cleansed of things that are not led of God, especially associated with agreements. I am also getting the idiom ‘washing your hands.’ This pertains to a finality of intentionally stop being involved in or connected to something in any way. This can be anything the Lord has spoken to you to stop, to cut off, or to not get involved in, etc. Pray and seek the Lord on anything He wants you to be done with of for good.
Clenching hands—is a symbol of defiance/arrogance (Ps. 75:5-10). Do not be trivial/idle about the possibility of walking in defiance/arrogance towards the Lord. Ask the Lord to help or show you of any defiance/arrogance towards Him, as this leads to judgement outside the lines of the leading of the Spirit, therefore judgment in the same measure on you. God is the One who decides will rise or fall. The key thing we must be attentive to is not being led by our emotions not led of the Spirit to pray or rise against what God may be doing and not being aligned to His will. Do not become trivial about things that are not led of the Spirit (2Tim. 2:4). This IS idleness.
Right Hand—a symbol of power/strength (Ps. 60:5; Isa. 41:10, Isa. 41:13). This is not the time to fear and be dismayed. The Lord says He will LEAD US with HIS RIGHT HAND and HOLD OUR RIGHT HAND. He doesn’t want to hold the hand that isn’t being led by His Spirit. Instead, He wants us to be led by the Spirit so that THAT hand is in connection to Him in strength (Matt. 18:20). When we are led rightly by His Spirit, the Lord will be IN AGREEMENT with you, therefore you will walk in His strength, which is stronger than anything. There should be no fear in that, nor dismay/distress.
Idle hands are associated with laziness. Listen to what Jesus spoke of about the lazy servant with the talents:
24Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’
26‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master. ‘You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.
28Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 30And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
God is expecting an investment being ‘returned’ to Him. He has expected things from His people that have been given the authority, to return back to Him greatly. In this context, He’s speaking the language of the world to put it into context for them to understand. He wants a RETURN, a YIELD. God is not speaking about finances here entirely. He’s speaking about people being returned to Him and yielding/submitting to Him, HIS AUTHORITY. Jesus was explaining that those He puts in position over others, He expects them to ‘hand over’ what is His (Matt. 22:15-22; Ex. 8:1). So that they may return back to Him (John 17:24), that they may yield (submit) to Him fully (2Chron. 30:8). The lazy/idle servant received one thing (as opposed to the others—perhaps it was one thing God asked them to do), and He didn’t do it. While he may have done many other things (not led of the Lord, dead works), claiming it was of God, BUT he didn’t do the one thing He asked, which to the Master, was the most important thing BECAUSE HE’S THE MASTER AND YOU OBEY. It’s important to hear what the idle/lazy servant said:
Matt. 25:24-25 24Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’
The excuse was fear. “I was afraid.” This confirms idleness, which is connected to fear. Fear holds back many from doing the will of God. And, he understood Him ‘to be a hard man.’ That means he saw him as being ruthless (almost comparing him to those of the carnal nature of the world, as they’d be—reaping where they have not sown and gathering where they haven’t planted seed, in other words, where they didn’t do the work). The idle servant misunderstood the Master (or God). It says in scripture that God IS THE LORD OF THE HARVEST (Matt. 9:38; Luke 10:2). God is in charge over all things! An idle servant or one with idle hands does not see Him as that. They instead see Him as HE HASN’T ‘WORKED’ FOR IT. The idle servant sees God like a man (Num. 23:19). The idle servant ‘buries’ or ‘hides’ (like Adam and Eve did in the garden, Gen. 3), when he DISOBEYS.
Jesus told us, “Whoever practices the truth comes out into the Light…” (John 3:21). The idle handed servant does not want to come into the Light nor wants to live by the Truth (by the Spirit). This is why he ends up in outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30). AND, he loses what he could have had and more (Matt. 25:28-29)!
The idle-handed servant is considered worthless to the Master:
The idle-handed man is an idol worshipper (Deut. 13:13). He uses God’s name for his own selfish purposes (Deut. 5:11). They are reckless (Judges 9:4). They are vain and assaulting and will have no inheritance (Judges 11:3). They do not know the Lord (1Sam. 2:12). They do not understand the ways of God (1Sam. 12:21). These are just to name a few.
Again, I cannot stress enough, DO NOT ALLOW YOUR HANDS TO BECOME IDLE in this hour.
Hear what the Spirit is saying…