This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are studying through the
book of Proverbs these several weeks. Last week we took a look together at
Proverbs chapter 1 through chapter 5.

This week we're going to take a look at Proverbs chapter 6 through chapter 10.
We're looking at a chapter a day and picking out one or two verses from that
chapter each day to focus on that chapter, the book of Proverbs. I'm hopeful
that as we're doing this, you're reading the entire chapter each day.

It's a great way to study through it together. Just sort of look at a chapter
together in one verse and then have you read it individually and see the
personal things that God has to say for your life. In Proverbs chapter 6, you
might be reading ahead even and just wondering what verse I'm going to choose
each day.

Proverbs chapter 6, you might not have known that I was going to choose verse 6,
but there's just something I love about this verse. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 6
says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider its ways and be wise.

" I love this verse. Now, I have to admit, one of the reasons I love it is that
little word used right in the middle, sluggard. We don't use that word much and
it's one of those great words that sounds exactly like what it means, slow,
lazy, slothful, unmotivated, sluggard.

It's also one of those words that none of us wants to admit applies to us. Who
would say, "You know, I was a real sluggard today. " We live in a supercharged,
self-energized society and so no one's going to admit that they're a sluggard.

But the shocking truth is we all struggle with the temptation to be lazy. It may
not be seen so much in our doing nothing as in our doing the wrong thing. Our
lives might be filled with activity, but the discipline and determination to
finish what we've started, to keep our commitments, can often be missing.

It can be seen in a little thing, like if you're writing a paper or a book, you
find yourself finding other little projects to be involved in. Or it can be seen
in the big things in life, not keeping a commitment to finish a school project
or finish a school year or even bigger things in life, not keeping the
commitment in a relationship of marriage or to be the kind of dad or mom or
friend that you should be. What do I do when I find myself lacking in the
ability to keep the commitments that are a part of everyday life?

God's answer is go to the ant. Now I hope you see the humor in the fact that God
wants to use the ants that so often invade our homes to teach us one of the
greatest lessons of life. We apply nothing short of a nuclear blast to chase
them out of those homes and they just keep coming back day after day.

They are determined. They're not going to give up until they've carried away the
last crumb. I don't know if you know this, but some species of ants live for up
to 20 years.

It's always amazed me how determined they are, 20 years of go get the crumb,
take it back, go get the crumb, take it back, again and again and again. And God
says one of the reasons I created the ant was to teach you something, to teach
you something about determination. What if I could apply that same kind of
determination to my dream, to my job, to bettering my marriage, to raising my
kids?

From one of the smallest of God's creatures, we will learn one of the greatest
lessons that can make one of the largest differences in our daily lives. Don't
give up. Don't give up.

Don't give up on your job. Don't give up on your marriage. Don't give up on your
kids.

Don't give up on your parents. Don't give up on your future. Be diligent to the
end.

I understand other people do things sometimes that take opportunities away from
us that we would like, but you don't give up. You keep doing right until the
end. Anything and everything you can do, go to the ant and learn its ways.

Decide today to put new energy back into that part of your life that you may
have decided was beyond hope or change. Because remember, we are always closer
to victory and success and growth and change than we realize because of the love
of God in Jesus Christ. What you learn from the ant is doing little things can
make a big difference.

So what little thing could you do today? Just trusting God, just saying, "God,
I'm offering this to you. " It may seem like a crumb, but I'm offering this to
you.

Would you make a big difference from this little act of faithfulness in my life?
Let's take a minute to talk to him. Father, we pray together that you would give
us the strength to not give up.

Sometimes our emotions overwhelm us or the circumstances overwhelm us and we
can't see even the little thing that we can do that might make a difference. I
pray that you get the clouds out of our eyes, out of our minds right now and
help us to see what's the little thing that I could do today to be faithful to
God in this project, in this job, in this relationship, in this commitment, in a
place where in some small way or in some large way, I'm being tempted to give
up. God, what's the one small step that I could take to be faithful to you?

And God, give me the strength to take that step today. We pray this together,
Jesus, in your name, amen.