Not plowing when you should be plowing is bad for a farmer.

Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

Not Plowing

Not plowing when you should be plowing is bad for a farmer.  Farmers often have a very limited time in which they can do each part of the growing process.  If you don’t get the field tilled soon enough, it can get too wet to get equipment in the field.  If they do it too late, the crops get planted late and do not reach full maturity and the yield is low.  As a farmer, you have to get out there when it is still cold and a little snow may still be on the ground in order to plow at the right time.  Getting behind in the beginning is often the worst time to get behind.  Sometimes you just can’t make it up and after a certain period of time, you might as well not plant at all.

Bad Decisions Early in Life

Just like not plowing at the beginning of the growing season for a farmer, making bad decisions early in life can affect the rest of your life.  You put off a decision early in life that needs to be made and made right and it can affect you for years to come.  Choosing the right career or right education can affect where you may work for years to come.  It is not always easy to change later.  Choosing the wrong spouse and ending up in divorce is something that can affect you for the rest of your life.  It is vitally important that you make good decisions early in life, even when it is cold and you may not want to get at it.

Working Hard When it is Cold

We need to work hard when it is cold.  At times it can be spiritually cold in our lives.  We still need to work hard and stay at it.  Plowing is the most aggressive thing you can do to soil.  It often involves digging 12 to 18 inches deep and turning the deep soil over.  It takes a lot of power to pull a plow.  It is hard work for a mule or a tractor.  When things get cold in your life is the time God expects us to work the hardest.  When trials come, we must get in our Bibles and dig deeper and dig harder, just like plowing field.  Are you spiritually cold?  You probably need to get out the spiritual plow and turn up the soil of your heart and life.  God wants us to work hard when it is not convenient.