The High Cost of Low Living Text: Proverbs 23:19-21
Introduction: The War for Your Appetites
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is not a collection of ethereal platitudes for needlepoint pillows. It is a training manual for real life, given by a father to a son, on how to navigate a world that is shot through with temptations, traps, and fools. And one of the central battlegrounds that Proverbs identifies is the battle for your appetites. This is a war that is waged every day at the dinner table, in the pub, and in the quiet desires of your own heart.
Our modern world is a monument to unrestrained appetite. We are told from every direction that desire is sovereign. If you want it, you should have it. If it feels good, it must be good. Our entire economy is built on creating and then satisfying an endless cascade of cravings. But the Scriptures cut straight across this nonsense. The Bible teaches us that our appetites are good servants but terrible masters. They were given to us by a good God to be enjoyed within the boundaries He established. But when they break those boundaries, when they seize the throne of your heart, they become ravenous tyrants that will lead you to ruin.
This is not a teetotaler's rant or a dietician's lecture. The Bible is not against wine; it is a gift from God that makes the heart glad. Jesus' first miracle was to make a massive quantity of very good wine. The Bible is not against meat; it is the stuff of feasts and celebrations. The issue is not the thing itself, but the heart's relationship to the thing. The issue is mastery. Who is in charge? Are you governing your appetites, or are your appetites governing you? This is a question of lordship. And in this passage, Solomon, in his fatherly wisdom, lays out the trajectory of a life mastered by its cravings. It is a straight line, and it goes directly downhill.
He shows us that the path of the drunkard and the glutton is not a party; it is a slow-motion act of self-destruction. It is a life that unravels, not with a bang, but with a drowsy, impoverished whimper. And so we must listen. We must be wise. We must direct our hearts in the way, because the ditch on the side of the road is filled with those who thought this warning was for someone else.
The Text
You, my son, listen and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way.
Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
(Proverbs 23:19-21 LSB)
The Foundational Command (v. 19)
The instruction begins not with the prohibition, but with the precondition for all obedience.
"You, my son, listen and be wise, And direct your heart in the way." (Proverbs 23:19)
This is the call to attention. "Listen." This is not passive hearing. The Hebrew word is shama, which means to hear and to obey. It is the word used in the great Shema of Deuteronomy: "Hear, O Israel." Wisdom does not begin with a list of rules; it begins with a posture of the heart, a willingness to be taught. The fool despises instruction. The wise son leans in. He knows his father loves him and wants what is best for him. So the first step in avoiding the ditch is to listen to the one who is pointing it out.
"And be wise." Wisdom is the skill of godly living. It is the ability to see the world as God sees it and to act accordingly. It is not about having a high IQ; it's about having a heart that fears the Lord. This wisdom is a gift, but it is a gift we are commanded to pursue. We are to get wisdom. And a central part of that wisdom is understanding cause and effect. It is understanding that certain actions lead to certain consequences, as surely as planting corn yields corn.
"And direct your heart in the way." This is crucial. The problem of drunkenness and gluttony is not fundamentally a problem of the mouth or the stomach. It is a problem of the heart. The heart is the command center of your life. It is the source of your desires, your affections, and your choices. And your heart is always going somewhere. It is on a path. The command here is to take the wheel. You are to actively guide, aim, and steer your heart in "the way," which is the way of wisdom, the way of righteousness, the way of life. This is not pietistic passivity. This is active, engaged spiritual warfare. You must tell your heart where to go. If you don't, your appetites will.
The Prohibited Company (v. 20)
Having set the foundation, Solomon now gives the specific application. The first step in directing your heart is choosing your friends.
"Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;" (Proverbs 23:20 LSB)
Notice the strategy. The command is not simply "do not be a drunkard." It is "do not be with drunkards." This is profound pastoral wisdom. You become like the company you keep. Proximity and fellowship are powerful shaping influences. If you run with fools, you will learn their ways. If you hang around in the mud, you are going to get dirty. The assumption that you can consistently fellowship with those given over to a particular sin and remain untouched is the height of youthful arrogance.
A "heavy drinker of wine" is not someone who enjoys a glass of wine with dinner. The Bible is not Gnostic; it does not condemn the material creation. Wine is a good gift. The issue is excess. The heavy drinker is one who is mastered by his drink. His life revolves around it. It is his comfort, his escape, his god. The same is true for the "gluttonous eaters of meat." The Hebrew here is for those who are riotous eaters, those who squander and waste. This is not about being overweight. It is about an inordinate, worshipful, and wasteful obsession with food. It is the spirit of the prodigal son, wasting his substance on riotous living.
The sin here is a form of idolatry. It is looking to a created thing to provide what only God can provide: joy, peace, comfort, satisfaction. When you fellowship with people whose lives are centered on these idols, you will begin to absorb their values. Their jokes, their priorities, their conversation, and their habits will begin to seem normal. The warning is clear: quarantine yourself from the foolishness you want to avoid.
The Inevitable Consequence (v. 21)
Proverbs is a book of consequences. Actions have reactions. Choices have outcomes. And the outcome of this lifestyle is not ambiguous.
"For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe them with rags." (Proverbs 23:21 LSB)
This is the law of spiritual and economic gravity. "For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty." This is a simple equation. A life dedicated to consumption is a life that produces nothing. The drunkard spends his money on drink. The glutton spends his money on extravagant food. But it is more than just the expense. The lifestyle itself is anti-productive. It destroys the very capacity for fruitful labor.
This leads to the second half of the verse: "And drowsiness will clothe them with rags." This is a brilliant, poetic image. Drunkenness and gluttony lead to stupor, to lethargy, to "drowsiness." The man who overindulges is not sharp and ready for work in the morning. He is sluggish, dull, and sleepy. His mind is clouded and his body is heavy. This drowsiness becomes his characteristic state. And what is the uniform of this state? Rags. He is "clothed" in them. His poverty is not some unfortunate accident; it is the direct result of his choices. His outward condition is a perfect reflection of his inward state. He is clothed in the consequences of his sin.
This is a direct assault on our modern therapeutic culture that wants to remove all responsibility. We are told that such people are victims of a disease or their environment. The Bible says, no. This is the predictable harvest of a life sown to the flesh. This is not to say there is no room for compassion. But true compassion begins with telling the truth. And the truth is that a life of undisciplined appetite leads to a life of destitution, both materially and spiritually.
The Gospel for Gluttons and Drunkards
This passage is a stark warning. But if it is only a warning, it is not the full counsel of God. For we who read this are all, in some way, gluttons and drunkards. We have all pursued satisfaction in created things. We have all allowed our appetites to master us. We have all, in our hearts, squandered the Father's inheritance on riotous living. We are all clothed in the rags of our own self-righteousness, which are as filthy rags before a holy God.
Our problem is a heart problem. We need our hearts directed in the way, but we are unable to direct them ourselves. We are spiritually drowsy, unable to rouse ourselves from the stupor of sin. Who can rescue us from this body of death?
The good news is that God sent His Son for precisely this kind of person. What were the accusations the Pharisees leveled against Jesus? "Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" (Luke 7:34). Of course, this was a slander. Jesus was no sinner. But the slander was effective because it was plausible. He really did feast with sinners. He really did drink wine with outcasts. He entered into the world of the spiritually impoverished and drowsy.
Why? He did it to purchase for them a new wardrobe. He came to take their rags of sin and give them His robe of perfect righteousness. He went to the cross to pay the debt that our riotous living had accrued. On the cross, He experienced the ultimate poverty, being forsaken by the Father, so that we might inherit the ultimate riches of fellowship with God.
Therefore, the solution to the mastery of appetite is not simply more willpower. The solution is a new Master. It is giving your heart, that unruly thing, to Jesus Christ. When He is your Lord, He begins to direct your heart in the way. He gives you His Holy Spirit, and one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. He invites you to His table, the Lord's Supper, where you learn to feast in a holy way. You drink the wine and eat the bread, and in doing so, you proclaim that your ultimate satisfaction is not found in these elements, but in the Christ they represent.
He is the one who clothes you, not in rags, but in the glorious garments of salvation. He is the one who wakes you from your drowsiness and gives you true life. The way of wisdom is not a path of grim asceticism; it is the path of true and lasting joy, found only in Him.