“Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise…” (Proverbs 6:6-11, NASB)

There is a great lesson we can learn from the ants! There is great wisdom to be gained from observing the ants. It is: Be a diligent person and don’t be lazy. Here is what it says in today’s reading:

“Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man.”

According to gotquestions.org, a sluggard is “someone who is habitually lazy or inactive. Such a person does not take personal responsibility for his own life. The word sluggard is used 14 times in the book of Proverbs. In each case, the Bible condemns laziness and warns of the consequences of being a sluggard… The word dates back to the late 14th century, deriving from ‘slugge’ (a lazy person) and the suffix ‘-ard’ (indicating a person who habitually does something).” When it is placed in the context of today’s passage, it refers to someone who is consistently lazy, slow-moving, lying down, resting, and sleeping compared to the busy life of ants.

It is obvious that sleep is needed, but too much of it is not good. We need to rest from time to time, but too much of it will ruin us. It implies the unspoken nature of humanity: we are meant to live sensibly and dutifully, be busy with work, and go about our responsibilities diligently. The consequences of not living such a way are that “poverty” will overtake us like a thief and armed bandit. There is a connection between laziness and poverty. Though not universal, the pattern is undeniable. It paints a picture of poverty as a robber prowling, shadowing, and pursuing us from behind, seeking opportunity to overtake us and steal things from us. And we give them the opportunity when we let our guards down and become idle, resting, or sleeping.

A perfect illustration of this is when King David decided to remain at home “when kings go out to battle,” and it aroused his lust, leading him to commit adultery and murder (2 Sam.11:1-2). He experienced a lesson in defeat, not on the battlefield, but in the calm setting of a balcony. He was a warrior-king whose reputation was forged in battle, but he became a foolish king when he chose to stay behind, rest, and sleep. As a leader, he should have been at the forefront, but chose to remain behind. In that moment, the enemy found a foothold in his life. It serves as a wake-up call for every leader: The moment you stop moving is the moment you start sinking.

Solomon must have observed the ants’ lives himself. He saw that they had no “chief, officers, or rulers,” as he had among his subjects, yet they worked like a team. He observed their tireless efforts to collect food, drawing a parallel to how humans gather provisions for times when they are unable to do so themselves. Do ants really behave in such a way? According to Google, “Ants operate as a highly sophisticated ‘social collective’ that functions without a central command structure. While the queen is the most important member for reproduction, she does not issue orders or manage the colony’s logistics. The phenomenon is where complex group behavior emerges from simple individual actions—it is known in biology as stigmergy or swarm intelligence.” Such behavior is built into their biology. Likewise, God created us in His image, and we have a natural ability to think, create, work, produce, and reproduce. When we become sluggards, that is, habitually seeking sleep, slumber, and rest, we go against our nature, which will inevitably lead to poverty and ruin. There is a great lesson we can learn from the ants: be diligent and not lazy.

• How do you think Solomon learned the lesson that laziness equals poverty from the ants?
• What are some safeguards from becoming a lazy person?