Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11 (NKJV).
We often think of your intellect, our ability to choose other than our base instincts, as being an intrinsic bonus to our existence, that because we are not bound by our instincts we are necessarily superior to mindless creatures, such as the ant.
Yet Solomon wants to take our thoughts into a different direction.
The ant does what it is supposed to do, and without coercion, because the ant is not distracted by the pursuit of pleasure, by the arrogance of believing that "there will be more time later" to prepare. The instincts of the and are so highly refined that self-destructive behaviors are gone. The ant just works and works and works and does not question this.
Humanity was created to glorify God, though through a different means than any other creature. Where the natural world speaks to God's power through reflection of God's designs, God's heart for the process of creation itself, both of the beautiful and the unique, humanity was to demonstrate God's glory in a manner which held more significance: choice.
People are unique in that we are not coerced into the glorification of God in this life. We are given license to live how we choose, and while God does provide a baseline influence on everyone, some will reject God and some will accept this influence.
God does not want us to be mindless, shuffling through the rituals and marching in lockstep with some moralistic dogmas. Our purpose is not to be perfect, but to be refined, and to submit to that refinement process. To do that, however, we must focus our attention to deny and escape from the distractions that the ant can so easily avoid by nature.
This is the significance of the worship that humans provide to God, that we come to understand the infinitely great gift of existence we have been granted, and that we live in a way which we choose, and that our choices reflect alignment with God. We don't do this on our own, either, as God is quick to offer help to those who cry out earnestly and in good faith. How God answers will not likely be in the manner we expect, but God is not dead.
The sluggard that Solomon speaks of is not only ungrateful for their existence, they believe that prudence in behavior is not required in order to sustain their own existence. They believe, according to the lies they'd been told, that the effort expended is simply "not worth it". We see this mindset today, assisted greatly by the numerous social and political safety nets available for those who fall.
We can even witness how some will willingly give up their future, who will enslave themselves to the will of another, merely to avoid having to bear any burdens of responsibility for themselves. To not need to overcome their own weaknesses, but to submit to someone else who can do it for them.
Solomon pleads with the lazy, the indolent, to not leave their fates to chance. It's possible that, even having not stored up, not having prepared, that dumb luck would keep someone alive. That they ended up being in the right place at the right time, and that they would be saved despite their irresponsible behavior.
But luck is indifferent to those it looks upon, and always runs out for each of us, and we never know exactly when that will be. Only those who have not relied on luck will be prepared to face the circumstances before them with any real confidence.
Solomon is also giving this advice as a warning to even those who heed it, in that those who have been lazy, who haven't prepared, are the first to become predators when their needs are no longer satisfied. The expectation to maintain their lives will not be based on reason or effort, but merely on the fact that they are now hungry and you possess the capability to feed them, so whether they are justified or not, you will become their target.
Like a chain reaction, the hunger of the sluggard causes them to strike out, to create hunger in others from whom they steal, and this does not even begin to speak of the hunger for justice when people have been wronged out of the selfish ignorance of others.
Do not be the lazy person, and protect yourself from those who are lazy, do not feel pity for them, they have brought upon them the fate that they now attempt to renounce. Time and again we deceive ourselves into thinking that "oh, if they just knew better, then they'd act differently."
Because the truth is that we always know, and knowledge is not the problem. We are not ignorant to the sins we commit, we are only more convinced of our own craftiness to try and avoid the consequences than we are in the surety of the consequences we will face.
Choose God, choose to commit to the only master whose desire is to help you overcome your own self-destruction so that you can satisfy your true purpose. Choose the one in whom there is only good, who will not merely absorb the glory we give greedily, but who will reward and bless us, whether in this life or the next, for our obedience, for our alignment, for our choice to deny the distractions.
It's your choice.
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