Proverbs 6:7
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Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
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Are you a self-starter? Do you have a great enough sense of responsibility to know what you ought to do and to do it? Solomon continues his condemnation of sluggards by comparing them to ants (6:6-8). These little people do not need a meeting every morning to be told what to do and how to do it. They just go to work and get things done, now!
The ants provide an excellent lesson in wise planning, diligence, frugality, and investment. They work hard all summer to provide for their needs during the fall, winter, and spring (6:8; 30:25). They work hard, consume little, and save much. All three of which are great virtues. See the comments on 6:6.
And they do it without direction. The ants do not have a guide, overseer, or ruler to remind them of diligence, frugality, and saving. They do these things instinctively by God's wise creation. It is a shame that most men cannot copy the virtues of these insignificant little people. Solomon must warn his son about sluggards of the human race who do not work during harvest (10:5; 20:4).
Many men must be forced to work, reminded to work, told how to work, reproved for jobs poorly done, reminded how to do the job right, and constantly followed to keep them working (6:9-11; 20:13). They will take a day off for a cold or headache. If the boss is away, they will play. These are sluggards.
Other men spend everything they make, much of it on pleasure (21:17,20; 23:21). They will spend next month's labor by using credit cards for entertainment and toys today. Others like them will invest their money in foolish schemes that rob them and their family (28:19).
These two kinds of men - the sluggard and the waster - are brothers. They both come from the family of financial ruin (18:9). They both could learn much from the ant.
Parents, you are responsible to teach your children hard work, wise foresight, spending discipline, and constant saving. These four simple traits will do more for their future financial and personal success than any other natural investment you can make in them. Don't settle for helping them with their Spanish homework - which they will never use and only distracts their minds from profitable learning. Teach them about the ant!
The cure for sluggards and spendthrifts is simple and obvious. Starve them. They will learn both virtues - diligence and saving. This is the wisdom of God, and humanistic shortcuts like public education, welfare, jobs programs, and charity will not cut it (20:4; II Thess 3:6-14). Christian charity extends only to acts of God, not consequences of sloth or waste, only to necessary things, not toys or entertainment.
The locusts are also praised in 30:27 for not having a king, but the virtue there is social responsibility and cooperation, for they all go forth by bands. But the ant is singled out twice for its great diligence and frugality, with a wise eye to the future (6:8; 30:25).
Paul warned that every man shall bear his own burden (Gal 6:5). You cannot blame your parents, teachers, or pastor for your failure, in either financial or spiritual matters. This is particularly true if you have had good parents and been taught in a Christian church. The more advantages you have had, the more you will be punished by the just and holy Lord of all (Luke 12:47-48).
Dear reader, what should you be doing today? Do you need someone to tell you, again? Do you need to be punished by authority or circumstances to do it? Consider the ant, and go do what you ought to be doing. You will be blessed in the deed naturally and spiritually. And you should be especially eager to get at your spiritual duties.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the ultimate self-starter. He was focused on obeying His Father from the beginning, which He showed even at twelve years of age in the temple. And He did this in spite of His mother and Joseph not understanding or helping Him toward His goal (Luke 2:49; John 4:34). Listen to Him speak of His burden to serve His Father: "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).
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