Ants are creatures said to be exceedingly wise in the Bible.

Ants can be annoying when they’re unwelcome to your house. You’d want to use ant poison to kill them off. But when we observe them, we realise there’re many lessons we can learn from them.

1. Ants are very organised and orderly
   Ants move in an orderly fashion, as if following an invisible path. The speaker wanted to test what would happen if he rubbed away part of the path. The ants hesitated at that portion but eventually managed to find their way.

In the first stanza of hymn 282, it says:
“Let us follow the path that our Master has trod”
Indeed if we follow the path our Master has trod, we will not go astray. Occasionally, we observe 1-2 ants straying away from the path, wandering, and trying to find their way back.

The Israelites were like a colony of ants. Let us see how God organised them.

Num 9:19-20, 22
God through Moses commanded the people to follow the cloud. If it remained where it was, they wouldn’t journey.
God guided the people in their journey. Today, we should follow the path God has given us. The Lord Jesus Christ was God come in the flesh; to be with men and to show them how to live their lives; how He overcame temptation and fulfilled the mission of God. For children who have been brought to church by your parents, continue to walk in the way they have led you. When school demands increase, and when you start work, continue in the way if the Lord Jesus Christ. For adults, we follow the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Be fruitful and multiply
   Before an ant becomes a queen, it’ll make a mating flight and mate with a winged male. After the mating flight, it’s ready to start a colony. The huge number of ants in a colony all came from one queen ant. Some people are willing to pay up to $1000 for a queen ant in the black market.

For the rest of her life, the queen ant is fruitful and multiplies to build up the colony of ants.

How do ants reproduce? Most of the ants in the colony are male workers. When the queen senses that she’s going to die soon, she will produce eggs that will produce princesses. These princesses will one day, take its mating flight and produce colonies elsewhere. Depending on species, some queen ants can live for 2 years, some 20 years, with a maximum lifespan of 30 years.

1 Cor 4:15-17
Paul was like a father begetting children through the gospel. Timothy was a faithful son in the gospel. Let us be fruitful and multiply; preach the gospel to being more children into the Lord.

1. Ants gather their food
   Prov 30:24-25
   There’re 4 things that are little on the earth but are exceedingly wise. Ants are one of them. Ants are a people not strong. With a press of the thumb, ants can die. But even ferocious beasts stand no chance when attacked by a colony of ants.

Ants prepare their food in the summer. We know the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ants work all summer stocking the anthill with food. In summer where there’s an abundance of food, the grasshopper did not bother gathering food, he just enjoyed life. When winter comes, the ant has food to eat but the grasshopper has nothing to eat.

We know the importance of preparing for the future. The ants gather food in the summer.

What is OUR food? Let us be wise and gather food for ourselves. The Bible tells us what food is in Matt 4:4.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Jesus quoted this from Deut 8:3.
Here the intention of God was to teach the Israelites to rely on Him. In the wilderness journey where where your food comes from is uncertain, God sustained the people for 40 years with manna.

But the Bible said, “Your fathers STILL died after eating the manna.” Manna didn’t sustain their lives. What sustained their lives was their obedience to the commandments and will of God. When they were obedient and walked according to the words of the Lord, God provided manna to sustain them.

Our food today is the word of God. It is our obedience in following the word of God that will sustain our spiritual lives. Just as we know our daily intake of food is necessary to sustain our lives, let us not neglect our spiritual food we need to partake of on a daily basis. We need to have our daily Bible study to learn what God wants us to learn that day. If we haven’t cultivated a life of Bible Reading/study, you’re starving your soul. You have to learn to be disciplined to read the Bible and follow the commandments of the Lord. Learn to be like the wise ants who prepare food for the future.

1. Ants have powerful mandibles
   Ants can carry loads 350-1000x its own body weight. In documentaries, we see a huge leaf seemingly moving on its own but actually it’s one small ant carrying it.

These powerful mandibles allow the ant to carry food along. It can also protect the ant’s life when it’s in danger. Certain species of ants have such powerful mandibles, it can clip its mandibles on the ground to propel its body to retract/go backwards.

We can learn from the powerful mandibles of the ants. In our prayers, we pray we won’t fall into temptation and to be delivered from the evil one. Of course, the Lord will do His part to protect and preserve us. But on our part, we must learn like what David did when he was a youth.

1 Sam 17:34-37
From young, David had trained himself in courage as well as in faith. He also trained himself in the use of the sling which he could use with deadly accuracy.

The ant would’ve used its mandibles from young, training it for use. David’s training enabled him to be ready to face the giant. “How can this uncircumcised Philistine defy and mock the armies of God?”, David asked indignantly. Despite his small size, he did not fear the Philistines unlike the rest of the Israelites and even King Saul. His courage and faith in God brought him victory.

David can be said to be one with powerful mandibles. We should train ourselves in the faith so we’ll be ready to do the work of the Lord.

1. Ants wisely put their ‘garbage’ at the furthest possible point from them
   The speaker went to an ant exhibition and saw a formicarium. The set up was two tanks that were joined by a pipe. In one tank held the colony. Interestingly, where they dumped their garbage was in the other tank, at the furthest possible corner from the colony.

Humans understand the wisdom of the ants; they don’t want their living quarters to be contaminated.

Ants are also very considerate. When they’re weak and dying, they make their way to the ‘garbage’ heap and die there so they don’t trouble their coworkers.

We can apply the wisdom of the ants in our spiritual nurture. Let us remove our garbage and cast it far away from us. What is this garbage we need to cast away?

Eph 4:31
The garbage in a Christian’s life is bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, and malice. All this garbage affects our church community life. When does bitterness arise? When we’re unsatisfied; this gives rise to wrath and anger. And then clamour - we make noise to be heard. And then perhaps bad mouthing/evil speaking. We need to dispose of this garbage because it’ll affect our communal living.

As we live and worship together, sometimes misunderstandings happen. Let us learn to resolve differences and misunderstandings. We come from different backgrounds; our views of things are different. One may bring their view across very assertively and we may seem them as being very aggressive. Some may be viewed as cowardly because don’t seem to act for everything. Sometimes clothing or hair can trigger us too. It’s important to nurture ourselves to handle this calmly and in a spiritual manner. Commit our troubles, unhappiness and bitterness to Jesus in prayer. Let us also learn to be more forgiving to others as Christ has forgiven us. Some may have said or done things that have offended us but it could’ve been unintentional. Learn to live like the ants who live harmoniously in the colony, and who bring their garbage far seat.

Earlier mentioned was also that the ants are very considerate.
Matt 25:37-40
As Christians, we have to be considerate for others. When we do that, we fulfil the will of God and the Lord is pleased with us. Take the stranger in to show hospitality and clothe the naked. To visit the sick and those in prison. To feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty. These are manifestations of a righteous Christian who’s considerate and loving.

Let us bear in mind to designate the garbage area and discard our rubbish. Apply it to our spiritual nurture as well as our spiritual life of loving and caring for others.

Summary:

1. Let us learn to walk in a well organised and orderly manner, following where our Master has trod. Follow the right way so we won’t go astray. Let God guide us in our lives.
2. Be fruitful and multiply to evangelise. Bring people to the Lord.
3. Gather our food. Have Bible Reading/study to feed our soul with the word of God.
4. Train ourselves up to have powerful mandibles so we can safeguard our spiritual lives and be strong for the Lord.
5. Designate our garbage in our spiritual nurture and love/care for our brethren.

May the Lord guide us.