PROVERBS 6
6 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. – Proverbs 6:6-11
PROVERBS 6 THE VALUE OF HARD WORK
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
Those who walk in the ways of the Lord perseveres and work hard
They work tediously because they know God will grant them fruits
Those who are lazy will have no fruit awaiting them
They avoid doing anything hard, they’d rather lie down.
Solomon gives us a lesson on hard work. He gives the ant as the perfect model for work. According to pestworld.org, ants can lift 10-50 times their body weight. Because ants are so small, their muscles are thicker relative to their body mass than in larger animals. This allows ants to carry objects much heavier and bigger than them. To put it into perspective, if humans could lift 10 times their weight, a 200-pound man could lift a small car above his head. Ants are very social insects, and they divide jobs among different types of ants in each colony. The queen or queens have only one job – to lay eggs. All other female ants are workers; they feed the larvae, take out the colony’s trash, forage for food and supplies, or defend the nest. Male ants’ only job is to mate with the queen.
No wonder Solomon uses ants as examples for hard work. He reiterates more lessons on hard work in Proverbs 13:4 where sluggards get nothing but the diligent is richly supplied.
The gardeners toil hard and God blesses them with the fruits of their labor.
REFLECTION
- Why do you think some people think that they do not have to work hard?
