Whether your slowing down was long or short this holiday season, no doubt tomorrow the busyness of life will resume. I go back to school Monday, and the kids come back Tuesday. Busy doesn't even begin to cover it as we hit the ground running and won't stop for several months. The next semester is a very busy one and contains a lot of meetings, deepening of the academic curriculum, as we sprint toward the Statewide and national testing in the spring. Phew. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Yet the scriptures say that we should make the most of every moment. We store up treasures now, on this side of heaven. We must be about our Father's business. Is our busyness the right kind of busy, or the kind that distracts us from the Father's kingdom?
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)
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A lazy, irresponsible person is challenged to learn from the ant (also mentioned in 30:25) and be wise. Ants, known for being industrious, are commended here for their initiative. Apparently ants have no leader—no commander to direct them, no overseer to inspect their work, no ruler to prod them on. Yet they work better than many people under a leader! Ants also work in anticipation of future needs, storing and gathering while it is warm, before winter comes. The virtue of wisdom is not in being busy but in having a proper view of forthcoming needs that motivate one to action (cf. 10:5).
Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
Man is taught more than the beasts of the earth, and made wiser that the fowls of heaven, and yet is so degenerated that he may learn wisdom from the meanest insects and be shamed by them.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume
