Proverbs 6:6-11 says,...
Today's verses are Proverbs 6:6-11, which read,
v.6-8 - 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.
I wonder if they got the inspiration for the children's movie Antz from these verses. In the last section we were to importune our neighbor who is not paying his debts. We were to rehab him to do what he does not want to do. He has become a sluggard, a lazy person who lacks self-control. The analogy of the ant is just the opposite. The ant prepares ahead of time for the coming season and doesn't have to have someone to importune or push him to do this.
We need to observe those who display self-discipline in the everyday activities of life. It is the Lord's Day so I can't help but think of us and our weekly activity of joining up with God's people. Do you like the ant plan ahead for this meeting? Do you prepare physically, mentality, and spiritually? Does your schedule reflect a priority of this time because it is for God and not for you? Or do you come to church like the sluggard who is only there because nothing better came up and you thought I haven't been there in a while so I should go to satisfy my conscience. Are you coming to church as an ant or a sluggard?
v.9-11 - 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 of rest"-- your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.
Sleep is another analogy that Solomon uses with his sons to display our laziness to what we are to be doing. The context is the work that needs to be accomplished to our responsibility to our world. The sluggard is sleeping on his or her responsibility to financial debts. The proverb within the proverb brings up probably the number one excuse we use, "I will do that a little later after I rest a little." The little nap leads into an all night and the next day, sleeping the day way and nothing gets done.
I love the analogy of the time out in a basketball game. There is a definite benefit of a short time to rest in the game. The coach will pull the players off the floor, away from the game, to refresh them physically and mentally. He is instructing them in their rest of what? He gets out his clipboard and shows them what he wants them to do when he sends them back onto the floor of play. The sluggard is in an eternal time out and waking every once in awhile to see that the game is still going on and he thinks he should join but not right now.
The context is financial and if we act this way with what God has provided to us then poverty will come upon us like a vagabond, a person who walks because they have nothing, or like an armed man, a person who comes by force to hold us accountable. Both of these are very undesirable and avoidable if the person follows the path of wisdom rather than the way of the foolish.
A vagabond is not someone who is just poor but has chosen to be that way because they have not taken responsibility with what God has provided. Outside forces are brought into the life of the sluggard evidently because justice will always be righted in the end. This passage comes on the heels of the previous that talked about not co-signing with a who? A sluggard, someone who doesn't gather and someone who sleeps all the time. You draw yourself into their lifestyle and can suffer some of their consequences. You realize that you are not helping them in the process.
I have learned this the hard way at times. Remember that the proverb goes beyond a financial obligation but to anything that we set aside that we should attend to now. We can be a sluggard in our love for our mate, our love for our children, our preparation for worship, our witness of Christ, our work ethic on the job, our diligence at school and the list goes on and on. Are you sleeping when you should be preparing? Be the ant. Let's pray.
"Lord, what great word pictures are given to us in Your Word. We can observe the ants in our yard working for the season ahead. We can marvel at what they are accomplishing and then see the design that You have created and instructing us in wisdom to do the same. Point out our sluggard areas that we have regulated to doing something about tomorrow, especially those things with eternal consequences. Help us to live with no regrets because we are following after You. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.6-8 - 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.
I wonder if they got the inspiration for the children's movie Antz from these verses. In the last section we were to importune our neighbor who is not paying his debts. We were to rehab him to do what he does not want to do. He has become a sluggard, a lazy person who lacks self-control. The analogy of the ant is just the opposite. The ant prepares ahead of time for the coming season and doesn't have to have someone to importune or push him to do this.
We need to observe those who display self-discipline in the everyday activities of life. It is the Lord's Day so I can't help but think of us and our weekly activity of joining up with God's people. Do you like the ant plan ahead for this meeting? Do you prepare physically, mentality, and spiritually? Does your schedule reflect a priority of this time because it is for God and not for you? Or do you come to church like the sluggard who is only there because nothing better came up and you thought I haven't been there in a while so I should go to satisfy my conscience. Are you coming to church as an ant or a sluggard?
v.9-11 - 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 of rest"-- your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.
Sleep is another analogy that Solomon uses with his sons to display our laziness to what we are to be doing. The context is the work that needs to be accomplished to our responsibility to our world. The sluggard is sleeping on his or her responsibility to financial debts. The proverb within the proverb brings up probably the number one excuse we use, "I will do that a little later after I rest a little." The little nap leads into an all night and the next day, sleeping the day way and nothing gets done.
I love the analogy of the time out in a basketball game. There is a definite benefit of a short time to rest in the game. The coach will pull the players off the floor, away from the game, to refresh them physically and mentally. He is instructing them in their rest of what? He gets out his clipboard and shows them what he wants them to do when he sends them back onto the floor of play. The sluggard is in an eternal time out and waking every once in awhile to see that the game is still going on and he thinks he should join but not right now.
The context is financial and if we act this way with what God has provided to us then poverty will come upon us like a vagabond, a person who walks because they have nothing, or like an armed man, a person who comes by force to hold us accountable. Both of these are very undesirable and avoidable if the person follows the path of wisdom rather than the way of the foolish.
A vagabond is not someone who is just poor but has chosen to be that way because they have not taken responsibility with what God has provided. Outside forces are brought into the life of the sluggard evidently because justice will always be righted in the end. This passage comes on the heels of the previous that talked about not co-signing with a who? A sluggard, someone who doesn't gather and someone who sleeps all the time. You draw yourself into their lifestyle and can suffer some of their consequences. You realize that you are not helping them in the process.
I have learned this the hard way at times. Remember that the proverb goes beyond a financial obligation but to anything that we set aside that we should attend to now. We can be a sluggard in our love for our mate, our love for our children, our preparation for worship, our witness of Christ, our work ethic on the job, our diligence at school and the list goes on and on. Are you sleeping when you should be preparing? Be the ant. Let's pray.
"Lord, what great word pictures are given to us in Your Word. We can observe the ants in our yard working for the season ahead. We can marvel at what they are accomplishing and then see the design that You have created and instructing us in wisdom to do the same. Point out our sluggard areas that we have regulated to doing something about tomorrow, especially those things with eternal consequences. Help us to live with no regrets because we are following after You. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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