In a little village there once lived a boy who was supposed to be dull-witted. The men of the village used to find great amusement in offering him a choice between a five rupee and a one rupee coin, of which he invariably chose the one rupee coin. A stranger one-day saw him choose the one rupee rather than five rupee coin, and asked him for the reason. "Is it because the one rupee is larger?" the stranger asked. "No" was the response, "not because it is the biggest. But if I took the five rupee coin, they would soon stop offering it."
You would agree that the boy was not dull after all but quite wise.
Our elders and parents usually drill down the importance of becoming wise. Their obsession can sometimes drive even a sane person to have doubts about herself/ himself. My mother however used to make me read the book of Proverbs frequently and I found these verses about small creatures being exceedingly wise surprised me. Lets see the verses
24There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
25The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
26The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
27The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
28The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.
Proverbs 30: 24-28 KJV
It intrigued me to think that an ant, lizard or a locust could be wise.
The word exceedingly is a superlative and I thought we could spend a few moments to understand why these animals are exceedingly wise.
I am sure you would also be curious to know why they are wise.
In fact we all want intelligence and wisdom since we have to contend with work, studies and different situations in life.
In the next few days I shall share a few thoughts about each of these exceedingly wise creatures.
Let’s take quick journey as to what makes an Ant a wise creature.
Ants
Ants are creatures of small strength yet they store up food in summer. When you have plenty, you don’t really care for tomorrow. Summer is normally a time for holidays. Many of us go of on a holiday and take a break. We normally do not work in summer. The ants however are very hard working during summer. Can you picture that? They are storing up food for the winter. Winter's are generally cold and are unable to do any work. If there is no food we will starve and die.
Let us see what is said further about the ants:
6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be wise!
7 For though they have no king to make them work,
8 Yet they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
9 But you--all you do is sleep. When will you wake up?
Prov 6:6-9 (Living)
The key words are no ruler or king to make them work.
Do you really need your father to take off on you to study hard and work?
Do you need your boss to breathe down your neck and supervise you?
No one tells the ant that it should plan and store its food.
No one need tell us what to do, we can learn from the Ant.
How do you ensure that the food will last for the winter?
- You have to create a storage place
- You have to see that it is secure from rats and thieves
- You see that it has a proper lock
- Ensure that there is no moisture or the grains would get spoilt
The granaries of the ants are generally 5 inches in diameter and half an inch high, several of these are interconnected and scattered over two yards in diameter and a foot deep in the soil.
They do not have locks but they must ensure that the grains do not get spoilt. They pluck the seed from the plant often from the portion called the head or radicle this is to prevent the seed from germinating. They next remove the outer covering or chaff and even put the seed in the sun to dry.
This friend is a simple example of forethought.
People without strength, by diligently working together, rise to positions of great strength.
What do we have to do? What does Jesus say? What is the foresight we need?
33 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. . Luke 12:34 (Living)
Take the example of Noah:
7 Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God's warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah's belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world--which refused to obey--and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted. Heb 11:7 (Living)
It would have sounded really stupid to build a ship on dry ground actually on a hill.
Noah trusted God and he had the foresight to work hard in his summer and then be saved from certain death,
If we want to put away economic strangulation and death we need to work hard.
Ants are wise because of the preparation they make.
How can we be wise to use our life and prepare for our salvation?
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