Proverbs 6:1-16: a reflection

1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger, 2you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth. 3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor. 4Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. 5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. 6Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; 7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, 8provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. 9How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? 10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep— 11so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man. 12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth, 13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers, 14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord. 15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. 16There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

In the middle of this chapter, the sage sends the lazy person to a small teacher: go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. And he draws out the lesson. The ant has no commander, no overseer, no ruler standing over her, and yet she provides her food in summer and gathers her supply at harvest. No one drives her; she simply does, in season, the work that needs doing.

Notice two things the ant models. First, self-motivated diligence: she works without a boss over her, needing no one to force or supervise her. Real diligence is not about performing when someone is watching, but about doing the needed work faithfully on your own. Second, foresight: she gathers in summer and harvest, preparing in the season of opportunity for the season of need. She does not wait until winter to think about food.

Those two, diligence that does not need to be driven, and foresight that prepares in season, are wisdom the sluggard lacks, and they are worth cultivating in ourselves. It is easy to work only when watched, and to put off the wise preparation until the season of opportunity has passed. The ant does neither. Consider her ways: do the work that needs doing, faithfully, without needing to be driven, and use the season of opportunity to prepare for what is coming. Be wise like the ant.

Lord, the ant works faithfully without an overseer and gathers in season for the days ahead. Give me her self-motivated diligence, to do the work that needs doing without needing to be driven, and her foresight, to use the season of opportunity to prepare for what is coming. Make me wise like the ant, faithful whether or not anyone is watching.