The beginning of Chapter 6 of the book of Proverbs, right from verse 1 up to verse 5, exhorts us about being careful with our speech, particularly in the area of refraining from making a pledge on behalf of our neighbour and becoming a guarantor for a stranger.

And, incase we have done so, then we need to quickly repent and get out of such a bargain. We must make sure not to take responsibility for neither people’s sins nor their debts as well! Verses 6-11 tells us to learn hard work and wisdom from the ant! Neither, the smallness of its size, nor the danger that it is exposed to as a result, hinders it from bravely going out day after day in order to fulfill its God-ordained destiny even though it is not an eternal creature!

So also, even though we may feel insignificant, yet, wisdom beckons us to work hard, by God’s grace, in order to accomplish the specific task that God has for us to do on earth, for the one who doesn’t accomplish the same will be considered wicked and lazy in the sight of God, Mathew 25:24-30. Next, verses 12-15 speak about a worthless and wicked person, who is so defined, because of the way he/she uses his/ her tongue, eyes, feet, fingers and thoughts of his/her heart inorder to spread contention wherever they go.

Such a person is warned that he/she will come to a sudden end! Next, verses 16-19 warn us of 7 things that God hates, very similar to what a worthless and wicked person does, pride, lying, shedding of innocent blood, a heart that devises evil plans, feet that hasten towards evil, a false witness and one who spreads strife either among our earthly family members or among the people ofh God!

If God hates these things, we need to honestly and sincerely repent on finding any of these sins in our lives, while we still have the time.

Finally, verses 20-35, once again remind us to value and obey the commandments of our parents at home or elders in the Church, particularly concerning the sin of adultery. No amount of excuses and self justification can save us from the serious consequences of indulging in such sins!

The reaping of God’s judgment will be inevitable, for those who practice sin and refuse to repent, and so, honouring God and the earthly authority over us, in this matter, will always bring blessing in the end!

Choosing to go the way of obedience, is choosing to go the way of blessing. Besides, God’s grace to obey is always available to the one who is humble enough to acknowledge their sin and turn from their evil ways. Take heart! Where sin abounds God’s grace abounds even more, Romans 5:20,21, leading us into true liberty and victory in Christ!

Rowena Thomas
Mumbai, India.

🐜Go to the ant… consider her ways, and be wise. [Pro 6:6]

Behavioural psychologists have been studying various insect colonies to try and discover what makes colonies thrive – so that – they can get wisdom to help human societies/group work together better.

They’ve found:

🐜 Ants don’t have a leader. The “queen” ant does not control or direct the ant colony, she merely lays eggs.
🐜 Ants pass information to each other, and fine tune themselves to each other through their antennae.
🐜 Ants are decision makers in their own rights… BUT… they come together to create a “super-brain”. They can share information rapidly within a colony, process and make decisions collectively
🐜 The scientists created artificial ant-colonies adjacent to each other. They found that they did not become rival colonies. Ants did not try to recruit ants from the other colony, nor did they prevent ants from joining the other colony.
[Bees, on the other hand, have complex ways of recruiting bees to their hive and blocking them from joining other colonies… hmm… no wonder God didn’t tell us to learn from the bees. ]
🐜 Scientists marked ants with colour and discovered that each ant has it’s own prescribed task. But, ants are sensitive to needs. If there is a need for food, the house-keeper will join the hunters. Similarly, if there is a mess, the hunters will join the house-keepers to clear it.

In a small way, the ants demonstrate for us what society would look like if we all followed God’s principle of ”submitting to one another in love”.

No wonder God told us to study the ants.

As we study the ants, we can straight away see why human societies are so chaotic. Each of us wants to be “queen bee” … individualism, pride, ambition… block us from coming into true unity.

The key to the ants success is the way they keep tuning to each other. They work for the good of the group and not for individual gain.

In Christ, we have been gifted the Holy Spirit to be our “antennae”, through whom our hearts are tuned to God.

If each one in the Universal Church allowed the Holy Spirit to tune our hearts to God, we would find that our hearts & thoughts are “syncing up” together… and we would be one as Jesus and the Father are one… and the whole world would be able to see the True Character of God in us – individually & corporately.
[Rf Jn 17:11-26]

(Can you imagine what an impact it would have on society if all who claim to be Christian, started thinking & acting with the mind of Christ?)

May we be wise and learn from the ants…

Abba Father, retune my heart to Yours. Help me to recognise when pride is trying be my shepherd… and help me to follow Your voice alone. In Jesus Name. Amen.

AD

Lessons from Ants for Sluggards. Proverbs.6:6-11.

Consider the hard working nature of ants, a small, weak, feeble creature and learn from it. A remarkable creature for foresight, industry and economy. There are more than 12,000 species of ants. An ant can lift 20 times it’s own body weight.

A. Life and work of an ant.
a)Ant has no commander, no overseer or ruler. 6:7( Nobody to command, supervise, guide or to lead.)
b)Yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. 6:8( Ants goes in search of food, work diligently and store it for future)

B. Life and work of a sluggard (Sluggard=a lazy person who refuses to work and whose desires are not met.)
a) Long time of rest or sleep.
b) No fixed time to get up from sleep or no proper routine in life. 6:9
c) A little(more) of sleep, slumber, rest. 6:10.

C.Result of lazyness
a. Poverty will come like a bandit.
b. Scarcity will come like an armed man. 6:11.

Let us see some more verses about lazyness from proverbs.

Lazy hands makes a man poor but diligent hands brings wealth. Proverbs. 10:4.

Laziness brings on deep sleep and the shiftless man goes hungry. 19:15.

A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but find nothing. 20:4.

The slugggard says, “There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming in the streets.” 26:13 ( looking for excuses to avoid hard work)

Are we hardworking in our life in every area?
Are we wise in how we use our resources ? Time, opportunity, health , money..

Are we people who find excuses to avoid hardwork? Do we procrastinate(I will do it later)?

Let us make a decision to be very hardworking in all areas of our life.

Rev.C.V.Abraham.