The Ant And Idleness

Photo: A leaf-cutter ant carrying leaf

      The picture of the above ant should give us some instruction about being busy about the things which are important. This ant can lift several times its body wait, and one could never accuse this little creature of being idle or lazy. Solomon tells us to, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” (Prov. 6:6-8). Consider the ways of the ant and be wise and be a worker, not going to sleep on the job. Paul tells us that if a man would not work neither should he eat. If the ant did not work to store up food in the summer season, he would not eat in the winter. Ants work together to get the work done and God’s people should cooperate and work together as well. Two are always better than one an Solomon again informs us, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” (Eccl. 4:9-10).

The sluggard is one that is always idle and lazy; consequently, he is constantly in want. If we aren’t careful, we may also become inclined to drift in this direction and go to sleep, as it were, on the job from a spiritual standpoint. Solomon goes on to say regarding the consideration of the ways of the ant, “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” (Prov. 6:9-11). We don’t want to drift into spiritual poverty and miss out on the nourishment of the spiritual food God provides. A man that has a garden isn’t going to harvest much from it unless it is cultivated and maintained. Solomon again gives us good instruction, evidently because he failed in working in the right garden in the later part of his life as he was given to the things of the world. Solomon places importance in not being idle as he says, “Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.” (Prov. 13:23). How much is destroyed because of not using good judgment and how much is lost by failing to toil in the vineyard of the Lord? There were those standing idle in the marketplace and the question was asked, “…Why stand ye here all the day idle?” (Matt. 20:6). They were hired to work in the vineyard for a penny a day, and the ones entering in at the eleventh hour received the same penny as those entering in the early morning hour and third hour. The same reward is there but those entering in the earliest get to enjoy the work and blessings much longer than those that enter at the last.

Don’t be idle in the things that are important and of necessity. It is a necessity that the ant provide meat in her season. It is of necessity that the people of God not neglect the things that are truly important to their spiritual growth. Just as your sin not only effect you but all those around you; conversely, your good deeds done in love for the Lord not only blesses you but also blesses those that surround you. May God give us grace and then we have the courage to use that grace to serve and be blessed. Yes, indeed consider the ant and her ways. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” (Heb. 12:28)–September 19, 2012–Elder Larry Wise

 

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Pastor: Bethany Primitive Baptist Church
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