The Warnings of Wisdom and The Ways of an Ant (Proverbs 6:1-19)

A quiet financial signature can become a heavy chain. We open with Solomon’s tried‑and‑tested wisdom on co‑signing, where generosity meets prudence and good intentions need guardrails. From there, the conversation widens to the heart: a sharp, memorable list of seven things God hates—pride, lies, violence, scheming, feet that run to evil, false testimony, and sowing division. It’s not a tally to shame people; it’s a compass that points us toward humility, truth, and unity in a fractured age.

The lens then turns to the sluggard, a vivid portrait of the person who works hardest at avoiding work. We unpack why unreliability hurts teams, families, and churches, and how wild excuses can seduce even the talented into stagnation. The antidote isn’t a pep talk but a field trip: go to the ant. No boss, no clipboard, no cheer squad—just internal drive, seasonal wisdom, and cooperative execution. That image reframes how we think about calling, craft, and character.

Across stories of parachute riggers and everyday vocations—teachers, plumbers, mechanics, doctors, cooks, students—we draw a straight line from diligence to love of neighbor. Excellence is not perfectionism; it is integrity at work. If God cares about the work of an ant, he cares about how we build, repair, teach, diagnose, and serve. Walk away with practical guardrails for money, a moral map for the heart, and a compelling vision for steady, honest, gospel‑shaped labor.

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Chapters

• 0:00 From Moral Purity To Money Warnings
• 2:35 The Risk Of Co‑Signing Debts
• 3:23 Seven Things The Lord Hates
• 5:25 Portrait Of The Sluggard
• 7:51 Go To The Ant For Wisdom
• 11:10 Excellence, Integrity, And Calling

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:16

In our last session, we covered the theme of moral purity. It's the only subject, by the way, that Solomon spent nearly three chapters talking about. Well, now I want to go back to chapter six, where Solomon also provides some more wisdom warnings. And the first warning is about a matter of finances. A godly person isn't going to be stingy toward others, but he's got to be careful at the same time. And Solomon cautions us here in verse 1 about putting up security for your neighbor and giving your pledge for a stranger. Now, to put up security means that you're becoming equally responsible for someone else's debts, such as cosigning on a loan. And Solomon warns against doing that for a stranger, for someone you really don't know that well. In fact, you need to be careful about doing that for a family member. You better consider whether or not you can handle that loan, that debt, because you just might have to. Now I want to skip down here in chapter six for a moment to verse sixteen, where Solomon tells us that there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. Now an abomination is something that is morally repulsive to the Lord. By the way, this Hebrew expression six things, no or yea, seven, that's a way of indicating that that list is really not exhaustive. The Bible makes it clear that all sin is equally repulsive to God. All sin is sinful. But he's going to talk about just a few here. This is actually, I think, encouraging, because Solomon could have written, there are six thousand things that the Lord hates, no, seven thousand that are an abomination to him. Well, that's true, but the Lord boils it down to just seven, as if to give us, you know, a starting point heading us in the right direction. Now, first on the list, here in verse 17, is haughty eyes, and that indicates arrogance toward other people. Solomon adds here, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. Well, you don't really need any commentary to understand lying and murder would be repulsive to the Lord. Verse 18 adds to the list a heart that devises wicked plans. This describes people who are always conniving and scheming and scamming others. Also here in the list are feet that make haste to run to evil. This pictures for us people who love to sin. They're looking for ways to sin, they're running after they live to sin. Finally, here in verse 19, the Lord hates a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers. So God hates deceit, and God hates those who create division among the people of God. Now, with the time we have left today, I want to move back a few verses to a subject we're going to run into several times in the book of Proverbs, and that's the subject of the sluggard. That's a person who works hard at getting out of work. And Solomon's going to refer to the sluggard numerous times in his collection, and one thing he points out is the sluggard's lack of a work ethic. He is undependable. Over in chapter 10 and verse 26, we read this like smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. So a sluggard is going to make you cry like you have smoke in your eyes, because you just can't depend on him. Secondly, uh Solomon points out that a sluggard's excuses are unbelievable. Over in chapter 22 and verse 13, we read, The sluggard says, There is a lion outside. I shall be killed in the streets. He's claiming he can't go to work because there's a lion out there somewhere that might attack him. Well, this goes way beyond just calling in sick, but it's the same idea. In fact, I heard of one employee who called his boss to ask off to attend his grandmother's funeral. He was allowed. Six months later he called in again, and it seems his grandmother had, well, died all over again. He'd forgotten he'd used that excuse before, and he even used the same grandmother's name. Well, one author said the sluggard summons all of his creative energy into making excuses rather than making a living. Well, here's a third observation. The heart of a sluggard is unteachable. Now, over in chapter 26, we read here in verse 16. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. In other words, you challenge lazy people and they'll give you a list of reasons why you're wrong. You just ask them, and they'll tell you why they're your best employees. They're the only ones who work so hard, why you couldn't do without them. The truth is they can talk, but they just don't work. Well now Solomon writes back here in chapter six directly to the sluggard. He says here in verse six, Go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. So here's the solution. Well, let's take a field trip and go over to an ant hill and let's just watch them for a while. Let's study the ants and grow wise. They are fascinating creatures. I have read they can lift up to fifty times their weight, which would be like you or me going outside today and picking up our automobile. A single ant colony will house millions of ants, and they're all busy at work guarding the colony, uh serving the queen ant or hunting, uh, gathering food. And here's the amazing thing. All of this is implanted in their instincts by their creator. In fact, Solomon writes here in verse seven that they do all of this without having any chief, officer, or ruler. Let me take a closer look here at this. They do it all without a chief. The Hebrew can be translated judge. In other words, they don't need a judge to settle a dispute or, you know, some labor issue. The ants just move around and over each other and stay at the task. Imagine an ant hill with a million ants and not one traffic signal. They do everything without a chief, Solomon adds here, and they do it without an officer. This Hebrew word refers to someone who literally writes something down, someone who assigns orders to others. You can imagine an ant out there with a clipboard handing out assignments every morning. Well, there isn't one of those. Solomon also adds that the ants work together without a ruler. He's saying the ants don't need someone to correct their job performance. They don't need somebody to praise them for a job well done. Ants are internally motivated to obey the instincts given to them by their creator God. So you could put it this way they don't need anybody to make them work, to manage their work, or to motivate them to work. No wonder Solomon writes here in verse six, go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. I gotta tell you, ants just seem to love doing what their creator gifted, uh designed them to do, and we ought to all be more like them. I've read about those who serve in the military. They're called riggers. Their job is to fold and pack parachutes other soldiers will use as they jump from airplanes. Part of their creed says this there can be no compromise with perfection. I will be sure always. And well, that's because they know they have a life or death job to perform. Can you imagine being told, hey, look, you're gonna jump out of an airplane this afternoon and your parachute was packed by that, you know, that sluggard over there. He came to work late, didn't seem to care about the work he was doing. But we think he folded the parachute correctly. So so here, use the parachute he prepared. Oh, I doubt you'd be willing to jump out of a car with his parachute on your back. Beloved, if God cares about the work an ant performs, he certainly cares about your work and mine. So here's the prescription. Become even more diligent today as that dedicated teacher who prepares your lessons well, or that that plumber who gets all the pipes connected properly, or that mechanic who charges only what's needed, or that doctor who takes some time to listen to their patient, or maybe a cook who serves only your best, or a salesman that only writes honest deals, or maybe a student today who's willing to tackle each assignment. Listen, we are ultimately working for the reputation of our Savior and the impact of his gospel out there in our world as people watch us work. Are we working with diligence and excellence? Like an ant. Well, with that, we're out of time for today. Until our next wisdom journey, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.