Can We Be Too Hardworking? | Faith & Life | Our Daily Bread Singapore

We’ve all been taught the values of diligence and foresight. But what about the rhythm of life and communal living?

Robert M. Solomon

When the winter came, the Grasshopper had no food. It found itself dying of hunger while watching the ants distributing corn and grain every day from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

I remember reading this well-known Aesop’s fable as a child. The moral of the story is stated clearly at the end. One must postpone present gratification, work hard, and make provision for the future. A useful story, indeed, for any parent trying to impress on his or her child the importance of hard work.

The ant is hardworking, diligent, and to be commended for thinking about the future. It is a picture of responsibility. It reminds us of what the book of Proverbs advises: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6–8).

In Proverbs 30:24-28, too, the ant is among the four creatures commended for being extremely wise despite their size: “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer” (Proverbs 30:25).

The grasshopper, on the other hand, is a model of irresponsibility. It is only interested in present enjoyment and does not think of the future. When its summer song is ended and winter woes begin, it is totally unprepared, and its folly is clearly revealed.

Such a story might still resonate with some of us today. The values shown by the ant—hard work and diligence—are still celebrated and highly cherished.

However, in a fast-paced society where our performance and efficiency are constantly under scrutiny, it is easy to carry the lessons of the ant and the grasshopper to the extreme.

For stressed-out people, the grasshopper may look like the wiser one. Shouldn’t we take it easy, relax, live for the moment, and have a life? It is important to have periods of rest and recreation, to take time to relax with family and friends, to stop regularly to smell the flowers along the way, and to savour each passing moment.

Yet, that is not what the grasshopper portrays. The problem with the grasshopper is that it has a one-track mind. It is permanently set on play mode. It is short-sighted, lazy, and driven by impulse and present enjoyment, like the biblical Esau who sold his birthright for a hot bowl of soup.

So, it would seem better and wiser to follow the way of the ant. Or . . . would it?

Overworked and overly frugal

Because of social and cultural differences between our time and that of the writers of Proverbs and Aesops’ Fables, it is easy for us to misunderstand the way of the ant. After all, they belong to the same millennium, when diligence, foresight, and hard work were highly valued and widely promoted.

First, we can misunderstand the ant as a creature permanently set on work mode. Science tells us otherwise. The research of American zoologist Joan Herbers shows that creatures known for constant busyness, such as the ant and the bee, do in fact spend a lot of time doing nothing. This may be an eye-opener for ant-followers.

It is easy for us to distort the virtues of hard work and diligence into the neurosis of perfectionism and the tragedy of overwork and burnout.

The book of Ecclesiastes, which like the book of Proverbs belongs to the genre of wisdom literature in the Bible, declares wisely that there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1–8). Both Ecclesiastes and Proverbs were written in an agricultural setting, where the rhythms of nature and life were better understood and appreciated.

The biblical sage’s ant is thus to be understood in the context of such rhythms. To a generation which has lost these rhythms, or in which these rhythms have become distorted by modern life and work, the biblical lesson may be lost, or worse—used to justify a sinful, neurotic, and driven lifestyle.

Second, the ant’s labours must be understood in the setting of a more communal society. The ant worked for the good of others, and zoology confirms this. The food gathered by ants in a colony is used by all.

This lesson again may be poorly appreciated in modern society, where work and life have become more individualistic and private.

The danger is that we may try to mimic the ant’s actions, working hard and hoarding goodies, but all for our own benefit, without realising our fatal error.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, worried about this when he noticed that some believers worked hard, were frugal, and were becoming wealthy. His fear was that such wealth, when unshared with others, would lead to arrogance and spiritual decay.

That is why his motto,

“Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can”

can help us to learn the biblical lesson of the ant correctly. We are to work hard, for the good of others.

In the marketplace today, there are busy, selfish ants, living driven lives and hoarding things for their own use. There are also lazy grasshoppers who spare no thought for tomorrow, squandering their opportunities. There are also ants who are really grasshoppers: they work hard like ants, hoping to retire early so that they can live like grasshoppers using the wealth they amassed for themselves.

If we want to follow biblical teaching, we have to see the ant the way the ancients saw it.

We have to work hard within the rhythms of life and for the good of others.

Robert M. Solomon is a well-known preacher and Bible teacher in Singapore and abroad. Drawing from his extensive ministry and faithful study of God’s Word, he has written more than 50 books on faithful Christian living, spiritual leadership, Bible study, and many other topics.