Consider the Ant: A Lesson in Diligence (Proverbs 6:6-11)
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Proverbs 6:6-11
‘Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.’
In today’s passage, Solomon gives us a surprising lesson in wisdom by directing our attention to one of the smallest and seemingly insignificant creatures—the ant.
What an incredible thought: the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, uses even the teeny tiniest parts of His creation to instruct us. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, humbly allowed himself to be taught by an ant. I think that’s crazy in the best way.
How often do we seek to be instructed by God in the little details of His creation?
How often do we pause to notice and learn from the world He has made?
You see there’s no object too small or insignificant that God cannot use to teach us.
And Solomon saw that. He had the humility and the spiritual eyes to perceive God’s greatness even in the tiniest details. May we, too, pray for hearts open to receiving wisdom in all the ways the Lord chooses to give it—even through a little ant.
But that’s not even the main lesson to be learned here. What is it that Solomon learned here from the teeny tiny ant? He learned a lesson on diligence.
"She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest" (verse 8).
The ant works hard. No insect is more industrious. She doesn’t need a boss or supervisor to tell her what to do; she works faithfully without having "any chief, officer, or ruler" (verse 7). That’s diligence in its purest form—working not out of obligation but from an inner drive to prepare for what’s ahead.
Now, contrast that with the sluggard. Where the ant works diligently to prepare, the sluggard loves sleep. Solomon paints the sluggard as someone who says, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest" (verse 10). But this love of rest comes at a cost: "Poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man" (verse 11).
Now this doesn’t mean we should never rest - Scripture values rest - but it warns against loving sleep to the point of neglecting our responsibilities. God designed us to work. From the very beginning, Adam was placed in the garden "to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15).
But here’s the deeper question:
If laziness in our day-to-day work has consequences, what about laziness in our spiritual lives?
How much more serious are the consequences when we neglect the work of the soul?
Solomon’s call to "consider the ways of the ant" isn’t just about physical work; it’s a warning to those who are spiritually slothful—those who waste the opportunities of God’s grace.
We see this same warning echoed throughout Scripture. Jesus said, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24). But spiritual sluggards don’t strive. They don’t ‘work out (their) own salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12). They take their salvation for granted. They ignore their role in sanctification. They neglect the work of the soul. They neglect prayer, avoid opening the Word, skip out on church, and isolate themselves from godly community. They hope to reap where they have not sown and to gather where they have not worked.
But God has called us to something better. He’s called us to diligence not just in our daily work but in the eternal work of seeking Him.
And yet, back to our visual of the ant, how much more has God given us than the ant?
Though the ant has no guide or leader, we have so many - the Spirit in us, the Word of God, faithful friends and ministers. The ant has no overseer, but we live before the ever-watchful eyes of our Lord, who ‘keeps watch on the evil and the good’, and his ‘eyes are like a flame of fire’ (Proverbs 15:3, Revelation 1:14). And of course the ant has no ruler that will one day ask for an account of their work. But Romans 14:12 says 'every one of us must give an account of himself unto God'. With our eternity looming, we have every reason to put forth effort!
Now it must be said: God is opposed to earning, but He is not opposed to effort. Just like how God calls us to plant and water the seed of the gospel in others, knowing He gives the growth, so too are we called to cultivate that seed in ourselves as well, trusting that God will multiply our efforts in His work of sanctifying us.
As you think about this cluster of verses today ask yourself these questions:
In what areas of my life, both physically and spiritually, am I tempted to be slothful?
Do I look for God’s instruction in all aspects of life, and am I willing to receive it?
What would ant like diligence look like in my life today and the rest of this week?
Let’s pray over those things and these verses this morning.
