Wednesday January 29

Professor Ant

Prov. 6: 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise

Some people are wise. Some are otherwise. God wants us all to be wise and He spends a lot of time in the book of Proverbs teaching us how to be wise. In chapter 6 He speaks pretty strongly about how foolish it is to be lazy and He advises us to go to the ant to get a lesson in wisdom. I took His advice and, trust me, there is a lot to be learned from Professor Ant.

Ants are hard workers. Somehow, in their tiny brains, they have come to realize that laziness leads to poverty and loss. (If you haven’t figured that out as yet then maybe you need to get a bigger brain). Ants also know that they must always put aside something for the future, so they store up food for “a rainy day”. They are determined and not afraid to face challenges, so an ant will attempt to carry (and often will succeed) something several times his size. If he tries one way and it doesn’t work he will keep on trying other ways until he gets it to work.

Ants have also learned the wisdom of sharing; thus an ant will find food, and before you know it, he will have his friends, family members and the guys from up the road happily eating and hauling food. What a wonderful lesson for us selfish human beings to learn! They are also great team players. Just watch them work together on a food-hauling project, each one doing his fair share of the work. There is no boss or supervisor present. Ants work without anyone having to threaten them. If you should put something in the way of an ant who is on the food trail, he will go over, under, around or through it, but he is a very determined little fellow when he sets his mind to do something. We too must learn not to give up easily.

Yes, ants can teach us a lot; but not only ants. All of God’s creation can teach us important lessons that will help to make us wise, but these lessons are best learned when we realize that they come from God. Take the time to enjoy nature and learn God’s lessons for us, even from Professor Ant.

Dear Lord, help me to take the time to study the things of nature so I can learn wisdom from your creation, in Jesus’ name, amen.