ICB Ministry Training: Leitung und Weisheit Was ist Torheit? 2: Faulheit Sprüche 6,6-11 Romesh Raban
Proverbs 6:6-11 “¶Go to the ant, O lazy one; Observe her ways and be wise, [Job 12:7] Which, having no chief, Overseer or ruler, She prepares her food in the summer And brings in her provisions [of food for the winter] in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O lazy one? When will you arise from your sleep [and learn self-discipline]? [Prov 24:33, 34] “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to lie down and rest”— So your poverty will come like an approaching prowler who walks [slowly, but surely] And your need [will come] like an armed man [making you helpless]. [Prov 10:4; 13:4; 20:4]”.
• So, we are told to begin by looking to the ant for wisdom and of course the implication is that laziness is foolish right? The sluggard needs to learn wisdom. Again, just notice the morality of the book of Proverbs, foolishness is seen as laziness, laziness is not something that’s amoral in other words lacking a moral sense rather it’s a moral problem. It is a moral issue.
• And the thing about the ant when we look into verse 7 is that the ant is self motivated, the ant has no captain or supervisor or you know a project manager, the ant is a self starter the ant takes initiative, the ant doesn’t need somebody else to motivate it to work hard, the ant works hard all on its own.
• So, a good question to ask yourself if you’re trying to figure out whether or not you struggle with laziness is whether or not you need other people to keep egging you on or encourage you to work, if you need other people to keep you motivating you to get things done or do you do those things on your own, are you self motivated are you self starter, do you take initiative and therefore responsibility for yourself.
• So, that’s the first thing about the ant. It’s a self starter it takes initiative.
• The second thing about the ant in verse 8 is that the ant works with the future in mind.
• The ant realizes that tough times could lie in the future and I need to work in the present to protect myself from possible adversity that lies in the future. So the ant recognizes that there’s not just today, there’s also tomorrow and the day after and the week after and the month after and the year after. So the wise person recognizes that I need to live in such a way and work in such a way that I’m mindful of the future and particularly realizing that I might be living in summer and winter maybe coming. I need to prepare in all sorts of ways for that, I need to make the most of the moment.
• Now this really is going to challenge us as we live in a culture of instant gratification. We want things now, we want things to be easy, we want to experience the fruit of our labors immediately.
There is some important wisdom here for us to learn.
• We need to take initiative, we need to take response for ourselves and we need to work in such a way that plans for the future.
Do you work like that? Do you live like that? If not you maybe struggling with wisdom and laziness.
• Now, the slugger then actually gets challenged and we see that in verse 9 by the two questions: How long will thou sleep, O sluggard? When will thou arise out of thy sleep?
• So the goal of these two questions is to shame the sluggard into action, the goal here is to shame the sluggard into taking responsibility. How long will you keep on sleeping? When are you going to wake up and start taking responsibility for your life.
The question as well how long, reveals that this laziness is a pattern. Right? So that’s an important nuance or a good point to consider.
• It’s not just that he’s having a lazy day, it’s not that he’s having a relaxing weekend, no, it’s that this person is in the habit of sleeping and slumbering, this person is in the habit of delaying, this person is in the habit of not taking responsibility for themselves. That question how long, reveals the habitual nature of this laziness. The lazy bones is in the habit of doing the bare minimum.
• Now, the problem is that the lazy bones is also smarty pants, so the lazy bones has an answer for everything and depending on your Bible translation you may see that verse 10 is actually put in sort of a quotation marks because a number of scholars think that verse 10 would have actually been the reply that the sluggard gave to the question. So the question was how long are you going to lie there? The answer is verse 10.
• You know the lazy person’s response is: hey don’t rush me, I’m just relaxing, I’m just resting, I’m very tired, I’ve had a busy day I just need to relax a little bit, a little bit more rest, I’ll get to it later. This is actually really good insight into the nature of laziness. I think often in proverbs, the lazy person isn’t refusing to work outright, they’re not saying: I’ll never work ever, what they’re saying is: I’ll do it later, I’ll do it tomorrow, I’ll do it, but not right now.
• Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what I should have done today, that’s the name of the game for the lazy person, I’ll do it later, I’ll do it tomorrow.
What’s the problem there right? There’s actually a response that Solomon has for that. So the question is in verse 9, the lazy person responds in verse 10 but then right in the middle of his response, Solomon speaks up and he says that attitude of procrastination.
• That attitude of procrastination will result in sudden need or poverty. So again, remember that this laziness was habitual, so it’s built up over time but suddenly the consequences comes and the consequences comes swiftly, unexpectedly and of course plunges him into danger and need and vulnerability.
• And because the lazy person failed to retain his wealth, he will be unable to attain new wealth and therefore his poverty will be an enduring condition. That’s the significance of the warning there.
I just encourage you to have a careful reflection on that.
• This is very challenging because we all struggle with laziness to one degree or another, we all know what it’s like to procrastinate but there is a warning for us here, a genuine warning for us to understand that the consequences of procrastination can be significant in our lives, that’s true in terms of our relationships with people, it’s true certainly in our relationship with God but it’s also true of our educational life, our economic life, our work life and all sorts of areas, a lack of diligence can bring in very negative consequences and so the wise person is like the ant.
• They take initiative, they take responsibility and they work with a view to the future.
Can I encourage you as I encourage myself, let’s try to be wise, let’s follow the example of the ant and be diligent and work with the end in mind. May God bless you.
