Proverbs 6: The Amazing Habits of Ants

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Oh to be an ant: though they be little on earth, they are exceedingly wise.

Ants are great teachers, so we learn in Proverbs 6. But what could we possibly learn from ants? A lot: God always uses the seemingly foolish things to shame or challenge the wise.

⁶ Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!
⁷ Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,
⁸ they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

Character traits of ants

Ants are proactive; they don’t need managers, leaders, supervisors, or moms and dads to coerce them to work. They are self-motivated. Why? Ants are purpose driven. They are diligent workers with an inherent commitment to excellence.

Here are important lessons we can learn from ants:

• A – Assiduous: Ants have an innate industriousness. Their entire life, which can range up to 7 years, is spent working. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. Always on the move, the legs of ants are very strong enabling them to run very quickly.
• N – Neat, extremely organized planners: Ants plan for the future. They gather food, bring it back to the nest, and use it for daily meals and for winter storage. Likewise, we should be constantly prepared, in season and out of season.
• T – Team players: Ants work in teams to move extremely heavy things and capture prey. They work collectively towards a singular goal and can mobilize extra workers when an abundant food source is discovered or the colony is in need of defense.
• S – Sharing: As a species, much of the success of ants is due to task sharing and cooperation. The abdomen of the ant contains 2 stomachs: 1 for its own food and a second to be shared with other ants. If a worker ant finds a good food source, it leaves a scented trail so that other ants in the colony can locate the food.

From procrastination to success

Proverbs 6 urges us to wake up from our slumber.

Sleep is a metaphor for laziness—physical and spiritual. Lazy people are procrastinators—very quick to hit the snooze button:

⁹ But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?
¹⁰ A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
¹¹ then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Procrastination usually leads to failure and regret. Regret for not having worked harder…planned better…been more organized…taken initiative…

Instead of complaining about our circumstances, we need to hear from heaven regarding God’s plan and vision for our lives. We need to wake up and break free from our comfort zones. Without work, nothing will change.

So next time you feel small, irrelevant, or inadequate, consider the ant and be inspired!

Copyright © 2013 Uwana