Pro 6:6-8 : Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler, Provideth her bread in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest. (ASV)
Sluggard (Hebrew), Original Word
Transliterated word - ‛âtsêl, Phonetic spelling - aw-tsale, meaning - indolent: - slothful, sluggard or idle.Solomon had plenty to say about the sluggard or habitually lazy person. He contrasts the sluggard with the ant, who works diligently during the summer to gather enough food for the winter. In Pro. 20:4, Solomon describes the sluggard as one who refuses to work hard during the growing seasons and so has nothing at harvest time. The sluggard makes only one commitment: to his leisure. He will try and excuse to shy away from honest labor, even excusing himself through irrational claims of danger (Pro.22: 13).
Solomon addresses the sluggard who loves his ease, lives in idleness, minds no business, sticks to nothing, brings nothing to pass, and in a particular manner is careless in the business of religion. Slothfulness is as sure a way to poverty, though not so short a way, as rash suretiship.
Everyone who wants to make a difference should pay attention to the metaphor of the ant. It is amazing that one of the smallest of God’s creatures can become one of His greatest teachers. The lessons the ant teaches us can be summarized this way:
1. A – Attitude Of Initiative
Ants don’t need a commander to tell them to get started.
2. N – Nature of Integrity.
Ants work faithfully and need no outside accountability to keep them doing right.
3. T – Thirst for Industry
Ants work hard and will replace their anthill when it gets ruined.
4. S – Source of Insight
Ants store provisions in the summer.
If we consider and learn from the ways of the ants we can grow wise.
The sluggard in the physical sense does nothing for the world around him; he leaves it untouched, except of pillaging some of its resources. The sluggard in the spiritual sense is little different, he leaves the world no better than he found it, and perhaps little poorer. When leaders become lazy and loose their diligence in doing good for God, they become spiritual sluggards and worthless to the Kingdom of God (Mat: 5:13).
Wise people understand their time is limited. They know they have no way to retrieve misused or wasted time. Jesus stressed this when he said “I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day, the night is coming when no one can work”. We, as the body of Christ, must remain diligent in doing good and in encouraging others to do like wise.
