2008-09-01 08:30:00
"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!" (Proverbs 6:6).
Today is Labor Day here in the US and although it may not be a holiday where all of our readers live, today's theme will be applicable to all. In the daily text Solomon is teaching the value of labor with a rather harsh rebuke to the sluggard.
I recall a teaching moment from my dad as a small child. We were out visiting a public place in the Kansas City area and there were large black ants on the sidewalk. My dad saw me step on one and corrected me explaining they were living as God intended and were not harming us in any way.
Edward O. Wilson is a professor at Harvard University and the world's foremost authority in myrmecology, which is the study of ants. I recall an article of his in Reader's Digest many years ago and I marvel that anyone would devote their lives to such a study. His 736-page book "The Ants" is the standard work on the little critter and he has since written a sequel titled "Journey to the Ants"!
King Solomon also found the ant an interesting point of observation and we find in this observation another timeless lesson from God's Word. Solomon said "go" and "consider". Well, you rarely have to "go" out of your way to see ants since regardless of where you may live, ants also inhabit nearby.
But taking the time to "consider" the ant's ways takes some effort. Solomon was sure good at that for we read that "he described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish" (1 Kings 4:33). Benjamin Franklin observed that "none preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing."
Join me in considering the ways of the ant today:
• The ant demonstrates teamwork. Rev. Mackay, a missionary to Uganda, Africa tells how one day he saw a colony of soldier ants suspend themselves by their bodies joined together. They were extending from the ground upward through the air to a piece of meat suspended from a branch of a tree, thus forming a sort of Jacob's ladder of themselves. Upon this ladder the feebler members of the ant colony climbed, and supplied their wants!
• The ant demonstrates diligence. They are busy in the work God created for them.
• The ant demonstrates preparation. "They store up their food in the summer" (Proverbs 30:25).
• The ant demonstrates strength. An ant lifts a load many, many times its own weight — I read that a man would have to lift a diesel locomotive and carry it on his back to compare with that of the ant!
• The ant demonstrates resourcefulness. A biologist tells how he watched an ant carrying a piece of straw and came to a crack in the earth that was too wide for it to cross. It stood for a time as though pondering the situation, then put the straw across the crack and walked over upon it!
Solomon says to "consider its ways and be wise." Have you watched any ants lately? Are not all these characteristics needed in our lives today as we seek to be wise in God's estimation?
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, help us to be team workers who are diligent, prepared, strong, resourceful and wise in all our endeavors. These characteristics common to the ant are of great benefit to us as we follow Your daily leading in our lives. We thank You for the ability to work physically and to enjoy the reward of our labor. We're grateful to You for supplying all that we have need of. Amen.
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