Proverbs 6:6 (Mini Sermon)

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1.      Pro 6:6 – “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:”

1. Solomon now changes subjects from avoiding suretiship to avoiding laziness.
2. Go to the ant
   1. Ant – 1. a. A small social insect of the Hymenopterous order, celebrated for its industry; an emmet, a pismire. There are several genera and many species, exhibiting in their various habits and economy some of the most remarkable phenomena of the insect world.
   2. The Lord is instructing us to learn from animals.

• There are many things we can learn from animals by observing them such as:
  1. Horseleaches are covetous and greedy (Pro 30:15).
  2. Conies (rabbits) are a feeble animal and thus they make their houses in the rocks so they don’t have to build (Pro 30:26).
  3. Locusts have no king yet they go forth by bands (Pro 30:27).
     • Band n³. – 1. a. An organized company; a troop. Said of armed men, also of robbers, assassins, etc.
     • Despite having no king to organize them, they organize themselves and destroy lands by staying together.
  4. Spiders are small and despised, but yet they live in kings’ palaces (Pro 30:28).
  5. Lions are strong and fearless (Pro 30:30).

1. thou sluggard;
   1. His admonition is to the sluggard.
      1. Sluggard n. – A. n. One who is naturally or habitually slow, lazy, or idle; one who is disinclined for work or exertion of any kind; a slothful or indolent person.
      2. Sluggards don’t like to work and would rather sit around or take part in recreation.
      3. Sluggards are slow. They work slowly; they walk slowly; they do everything slowly.
   2. Sluggards are lazy and worthless.
      1. They sleep a lot (Pro 6:9).
      2. They will let you down if you count on them to do something (Pro 10:26).
      3. They want things other people have but they usually don’t end up with much wealth or possessions because they are too lazy to work for them (Pro 13:4).
      4. They will not work in difficult conditions and therefore will end up poor (Pro 20:4).
      5. They always have an excuse for their laziness and think they’re smarter than others who tell them why they should be working (Pro 26:16).

• A sluggard has a large brain compared to an ant.
  1. An ant has a brain that is 1 million times smaller than a sluggard.
  2. “”Human brain volume is 1.1-1.2 litres, of ant brain – an average of approx. 1 microlitre, so a million times smaller” – compared Prof. Ewa J. Godzińska.” (Small ants and their big brains, Science in Poland, 4-18-2016)
  3. Yet, the Lord tells the sluggard to consider the ways of the ant and gain wisdom from her.
  4. This is embarrassing for the sluggard.

1. consider her ways,
   1. Animals can teach us if we pay attention (Job 12:7).
   2. Consider – 1. To view or contemplate attentively, to survey, examine, inspect, scrutinize.
      1. The Lord is telling the sluggard to get off his lazy butt and go to an anthill to watch the ants work.
      2. As he watches he should contemplate attentively and scrutinize how they work diligently and cooperate with others.

• Here are some of the things a sluggard can learn from ants.
  1. Ants are one of the worlds strongest creatures by size.
     • “Ants can carry objects 50 times their own body weight in their jaws. Relative to their size, their muscles are thicker than those of larger animals—even humans. This ratio enables them to produce more force and carry larger objects. If you had muscles in the proportions of ants, you’d be able to heave a Hyundai over your head.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, )
     • They don’t let their small size be an excuse for not using the strength God has given them.
  2. Ants are farmers who work smart and hard to provide for themselves.
     • “Fungus-farming ants….used sophisticated horticultural techniques to enhance their crop yields, including secreting chemicals with antibiotic properties to inhibit mold growth and devising fertilization protocols using manure.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, )
  3. Ants go in search for food and then lead others to it instead of relying on a government handout.
     • “By following pheromone trails laid by scout ants from their colony, foraging ants can gather and store food efficiently. A scout ant first leaves the nest in search of food, wandering somewhat randomly until it discovers something edible. It then consumes some of the food and returns to the nest in a direct line. It seems scout ants can observe and recall visual cues that enable them to navigate quickly back to the nest. Along the return route, the scout ants leave a trail of pheromones—which are special scents they secrete—that guide their nestmates to the food. The foraging ants then follow the path designated by the scout ant, each one adding more scent to the trail to reinforce it for others. Worker ants continue walking back and forth along the trail until the food source is depleted.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, )
     • Go to ant, thou sluggard.
  4. Ants form relationships with other animals and plants to achieve their goals rather than building a relationship with the government.
     • “Ant plants, or myrmecophytes, are plants that have naturally occurring hollows in which ants can take shelter or feed. These cavities may be hollow thorns, stems, or even leaf petioles. The ants live in the hollows, feeding on sugary plant secretions or the excretions of sap-sucking insects. What does a plant get for providing such luxurious accommodations? The ants defend the host plant from herbivorous mammals and insects and may even prune away parasitic plants that attempt to grow on it.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, )
     • “Ants will do just about anything to get the sugary secretions of sap-sucking insects, such as aphids or leafhoppers. To keep the honeydew in close supply, some ants herd aphids, carrying the soft-bodied pests from plant to plant. Leafhoppers sometimes take advantage of this nurturing tendency in ants and leave their young to be raised by the ants. This allows the leafhoppers to raise another brood.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, )
  5. Ants have the fastest movement among animals.
     • “The aptly named species of trap jaw ant, can close its jaws at 140mph, which it uses to kill its prey or injure predators.” (10 Cool Facts About Ants!, National Geographic Kids)
     • They are not slow and lazy like a sluggard.
  6. There are also some habits and tactics in ants that we do not want to emulate.
     1. Some ants kidnap other ants and force them into slavery.
     2. “Quite a few ant species take captives from other ant species, forcing them to do chores for their own colony. Honeypot ants even enslave ants of the same species, taking individuals from foreign colonies to do their bidding. Polyergus queens, also known as Amazon ants, raid the colonies of unsuspecting Formica The Amazon queen finds and kills the Formica queen, then enslaves the Formica workers. The enslaved workers help the usurping queen rear her own brood. When her Polyergus offspring reach adulthood, their sole purpose is to raid other Formica colonies and bring back their pupae, ensuring a steady supply of enslaved workers.” (10 Fascinating Facts About Ants, ThoughtCo.)
  7. and be wise:
     1. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise” (Pro 13:20).
     2. He that watcheth wise ants shall also be wise.

• Hearing instruction will enable us to be wise (Pro 8:33), and so will observing ants.

1. This welfare nation could learn a lot from little ants.
2. It’s not only the young that need to learn to be wise ― some people in the latter end of life need to learn to be wise too (Pro 19:20).
   1. There are a lot of old people in this country who never learned to lay up for the time to come when they can’t work.
   2. It’s going to come back to bite them.

Both young and old in this country need to go to the ant and learn from her how to be wise, work hard, provide for themselves, and save up wealth during the “summer” and “harvest” of life so they will have enough to carry them through the “winter” (Pro 6:6-8).