For The Proverbial Palate- 08.30.2008

   Photo: CSIRO- www.smh.com.au/…/2007/12/28/1198778703379.html

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. Proverbs 6:6-11

To satisfy this week’s proverbial palate, I would like for us to “consider the ant”. I realize that this may be difficult for some of us to do, especially for those of us who have often done battle with this pesky critter and found them to be a formidable opponent.

The writer of the proverbs not only exhorts all of us to consider the ant, but more specifically the sluggard…..

sluggard: [sluhg-erd] noun, a person who is habitually inactive or lazy.

The exhortation is for those who are lazy, or more appropriately in the common (southern) vernacular.. ‘a slug’. I would like to point out, it not talking about someone who can not work, but will not work. They just find it easier to get something for nothing!

Now the ant is not the case. They don’t have anyone that comes in every morning telling them to get out of the bed and go make provision for their sustenance. Or do they require a taskmaster to strong arm them to insure they are doing a good job or not taking unauthorized breaks. There are no ants on welfare waiting for someone to meet all of their daily needs.

Now before you write me and blast me about the legitimate need for some people to receive financial help, I agree. What I am saying, is that if one is able to work they should. It is not only in their best interest, but the whole of society. For anything that is free, will eventually be taken for granted, and worse than this, expected… thereby fueling the ’sluggard’ spirit.

Now there is a very important principle that is taught in the scriptures that finds its application in both the secular arena and the spiritual realm, and the principle is sowing and reaping.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:7-9

If one knows anything of the principle of sowing and reaping, they realize that cultivation is much more than just putting seed in a hole and covering it with some dirt. To enhance the production of fruit, the process requires tilling, fertilizing, watering, weeding, etc.. and all of this before the “fruit of thy labor’.  The message of the proverb is that a man that is lazy and spends his day as a ’slug’ shall cultivate nothing more than the fruit of poverty making one wholly dependent on the provisions of another.

If God has given you strength to work or serve, do it with all of your heart, not as men pleasers but as unto the Lord.

Peace

malachi

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