Go to the Ant

by Frederick E. Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.  

Chapter 1

From the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version:  

Proverbs chapter 6:
 6 GO TO THE ANT, you sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise,
 7 Who having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
 8 Provides her food in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
 9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard?  When will you get up out of your sleep?
 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,
 11 So your poverty shall come like someone that travels, and your want like an armed man.
 12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth.
 13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers,
 14 Perverseness is in his heart, he devises mischief all the time, he plants discord.
 15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly, suddenly he shall be broken with no remedy.
 16 The Lord hates these six things, yes, seven are a dirty thing to him,
 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
 18 A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
 19 A false witness that speaks lies, and he that plants discord among brothers.
 20 My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake the law of your mother,
 21 Tie them continually on your heart, and tie them around your neck.
 22 When you go, it shall lead you, when you sleep, it shall keep you, and when you awaken, it shall talk with you.
 23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
 24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
 25 Don't lust for her beauty in your heart, and don't let her take you with her eyelids.
 26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
 27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
 28 Can someone go on hot coals, and his feet not get burned?
 29 So he that goes in to his neighbor's wife, whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
 30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry,
 31 But if he's found, he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all the possessions in his house.
 32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding, he that does it destroys his own soul.
 33 He shall get a wound and dishonor, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
 34 For jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore he won't give any slack in the day of vengeance.
 35 He won't regard any ransom, nor will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

___Proverbs chapter 7
 1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with you.
 2 Keep my commandments and live, and my law like the apple of your eye.
 3 Tie them on your fingers, write them on the table of your heart.
 4 Say to wisdom, "You're my sister, and call understanding your kinswoman,"
 5 So that they'll keep you from the strange woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words.
 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
 7 And saw among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man without understanding,
 8 Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house,
 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night,
 10 And see, a woman dressed like a prostitute met him, and subtle of heart.
 11 (She is loud and stubborn, her feet don't remain in her house,
 12 Now she is outside, now in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner.)
 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with a naughty face said to him,
 14 "I have peace offerings with me, I've paid my vows today.
 15 Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I've found you.
 16 I've decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen from Egypt.
 17 I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us solace ourselves with loves.
 19 For the owner of the house is not at home, he has gone on a long journey,
 20 He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed."
 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
 22 He goes after her immediately, like an ox goes to the slaughter, or like a fool to the correction of the stocks,
 23 'Til a dart strikes through his liver, like a bird hurries to the trap, and doesn't know that it is for his life.
 24 Listen to me now therefore, O you children, and pay attention to the words of my mouth.
 25 Don't let your heart decline to her ways, don't go astray in her paths.
 26 For she has thrown down many wounded, yes, many strong men have been killed by her.
 27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the rooms of death.

Chapter 2

In Proverbs 6:6, God says, "Look at the ants.  Consider the ants."  

Verse 7 tells us the ants have no guide, overseer, or ruler.  Ants don't go to ant school to learn ant culture, nor to learn the ant ways of doing things, nor to learn where to build their nests.  

I went shopping this morning.  As I was about to cross the street in front of the store, there was a crack in the sidewalk.  

The ants had said, "Oh, great!  A crack in the sidewalk.  Here's where we'll build our next dwelling place."   And they began excavating.  

But Fred, how do you know they were excavating?  Because I saw the little piles of dirt that they had brought up from below.   

The ants dig little tunnels, and make little rooms.  Rooms to store their food in.  

Haven't you seen those ant farms that you can hang on the wall, with a sheet of glass on the front and on the back?  The thing is only about 3/8 inch thick between the sheets of glass.  

You can see the ants inside and the tunnels that they dig.  They can't hide the tunnels because the light comes right through the glass.  They just go right on digging their tunnels.  

I guess the maker of the ant farms puts some kind of ant food in there when they make the ant farms.  

Verse 8 says they provide their food in the summer, and gather their food in the harvest.  

Verses 6 & 9 mention the word sluggard.  A sluggard is a lazy person.  God doesn't want us to be lazy.  Ants are very industrious.  I mean work, work, work, work.  It's seems to be all they know.  

And it pays off for them.  

After telling us about the ants, God tells us that if we sleep too much, we'll have poverty.  

Poverty is not a good thing.  

Pastor John Osteen, about whom I've written, used to say, "It's like the fellow said, I've been rich, and I've been poor.  Rich is better."  

I think the fellow Osteen was quoting knew what he was talking about.  On the other hand, being rich has brought temptations to some people that have helped them wind up in hell.  

But no one in his right mind sets a goal for himself of being poor.  

Another scripture tells us, "Don't love sleep so that you don't come to poverty.  Open your eyes, and you'll be satisfied with bread."  

The Bible says, "The hand of the diligent makes rich."  Diligence is the opposite of slothfulness."  

I think we get the word slothfulness from the animal, the sloth.  

There is a three-toed sloth.  Sloths move very slowly.  We have squirrels in my neighborhood.  They can be very fast.  A sloth could never keep up with a squirrel.  Forget about it.  No way.  

Whatever your vocation (I hope it's legitimate), God wants us to be diligent, not slothful.  

Proverbs 22:29 tells us, "Do you see a man who is diligent in his business?  He shall stand before kings, he won't stand before men of low degree."

You might say, "Yes, but I'm just a Carpenter, or Plumber."  

Well, let me tell you this:   Kings need carpenters from time to time, and also Plumbers.  

Our nation doesn't have a king.  Instead, it has a President.  Probably every kind of craftsman and vocation that there is has done some work at the White House, where the President lives.  

But try to be very good at your trade or vocation.  

Try to learn the latest techniques.  

I've worked in Plant Maintenance at factories.  There's a program on TV called, "Ask This Old House."  It's interesting to see the new techniques and materials and devices that they're using now.  

If you don't keep up with the new developments, your competition, that does keep up, might gain the advantage over you.  

Proverbs 21:5 tells us, "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness,but of every one that is hasty only to want."  

Psalm 23 tells us, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."  That means you won't lack what you need.  

Do what God said in Prov 21:5.  Don't be hasty, it tends to cause want.  Be diligent, and have plenteousness.