What We Can Learn From The Ant

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”
Proverbs 6:6 (NIV)

I love this verse!
I have to admit that one of the reasons I love it is that little used word right in the middle – Sluggard.

It’s one of those great words that sounds exactly like what it means.
Slow, lazy, slothful and unmotivated.
Sluggard.

It is also one of those words that none of us want to admit applies to us.
Who would say, “I was a real sluggard today.”
We live in a self-energized, super-charged society!

Sluggards indeed.

The shocking truth is – we all struggle with the temptation to be lazy.
It may not be seen so much in our doing nothing as in our doing the wrong thing.
Our lives may be full of activity, but the discipline and determination to finish what we’ve started and keep our commitments are often missing.

The answer?
Go to the ant.

I hope you can see the humour in the fact that God wants to use the ants that so often invade our homes to teach us one of the greatest lessons of life.
We apply everything short of a nuclear blast to chase them from our homes – only to see them back the next day.
They are determined; they are not going to give up until they’ve carried away the last crumb.

What if I could apply that same determination to my dream, or to my job, or to bettering my marriage, or to raising my kids?

From one of the smallest of God’s creatures we learn one of the greatest lessons that can make the largest difference in our lives.
Don’t give up.
Don’t give up on your job – or your marriage – or your kids – or your parents – or your future.

Be diligent to the end.
Decide today to put new energy back into a part of your life that you had decided was beyond hope or change.

Prayer
Father, help me to not give up. I put my hope in You. Give me new energy in the areas of life I need to keep on trying. I wont give up, just as You don’t give up on me.
Amen

Study by Fraser Murdoch