Family/Piety

Go to the Ant

Posted on by Scotty Anderson

“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” – Proverbs 6:6.
(This is a variation of a devotional I wrote recently for a high school athletic team. Thought it worth sharing)

I’m not sure we use the word sluggard enough. I know it’s not a nice thing to say about someone but it is a biblical category and sometimes it just fits. Whoever we are we need to be astute enough to diagnose it in ourselves, be uncomfortable when we see it, and repent when we’re guilty of it. And there’s plenty of motivation in the Proverbs for repenting of it. Just consider these verses:

  • “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”  Pr 22:29
  •  “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” Pr 24:27
  • “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.” Pr 12:11
  •  “…The work of a man’s hand comes back to him.” Pr 12:14b
  • “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.” Pr 28:19
  • “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Pr 14:23

Do you get the picture? You’re probably smart enough to figure out that in those verses you can trade out “kings,” “houses,” and “bread” for things more relevant to you. What wisdom says is this: “Work hard and work early.” Excellence now; honor later. Effort now; rest later. Self-denial now; abundance later. And those who take the easy way, well…they get what they deserve and it’s not good.

Embracing this doesn’t mean you have to be naive. Proverbs is after all wisdom. For the most part they’re not outright commands and covenantal promises like we find in other places in Scripture. But the Proverbs are meant to be embraced and implemented. The general expectation for believers is to view work as ordinary, expected, and frequently unpleasant. But the unpleasantness of work is never an excuse to avoid it.

And this doesn’t end with a paying vocation. These are all of life skills. Most jobs are painful when you begin. Successful marriage requires the ability to persevere. Saving money demands persistent self-denial. Advanced education means toiling for many years in the books before anyone recognizes your expertise. Life in Christ’s church (especially on the local level) calls for engagement with difficult people and circumstances. And all of these more than payoff the longer you work in them. Work hard and work early is simply the way of God’s world and those who resist the God-given pattern of work then rest (Ex 20:8-11) will sooner or later feel the intense pain of their foolishness. Don’t be the one saying, “Why didn’t I work harder? Life would be so much better now.”

And one more thing…don’t trust yourself too much. The Proverbial sluggard is a professional excuse maker: “I really need some more sleep” (Pr 6:9-10), “It’s too risky to try that today” (22:13, 26:13), “I’m just gonna do it my own way” (Pr 26:16). It’s really east to find a reason to avoid pain and effort. So keep asking yourself, “Am I doing enough? Am I doing what I should be doing right now?” In other words, “Go to the ant…”

Scotty Anderson
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Scotty Anderson
Assistant Pastor to Families & Youth Scotty is a native of Santa Anna, Texas. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1994 and completed his Masters of Divinity at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2005. Scotty’s Air Force service of eleven years included time as a Security Forces Officer protecting nuclear weapons and also instructing at Officer Training School before being called into pastoral ministry. He and his wife Kerry are parents of three children, Clayton, Avery, and Grace.