Go to the Ant

Well, this morning as we open the Word of God, we're going to consider some of his words of great wisdom.

Over the past few weeks, I've been reading through the story of King Solomon,

just in my own personal Bible reading, and some of Solomon's words of wisdom.

Maybe you know the story of King Solomon.

King Solomon was the son of King David, and Solomon lived about a thousand years before Jesus was born.

From our day today, 3,000 years ago, since Solomon lived and was king.

And it's not often someone that we talk about, but Solomon was one of the greatest kings who ever lived.

I love how his story begins.

In his early years as king, Solomon had a real heart for God, just like his dad did.

One day after he became king, he went up to a place called Gibeon.

And there at Gibeon was where the tabernacle was set up.

And it's recorded that he offered a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord in one day.

A burnt offering was a sacrifice of an animal to God.

And I won't get into talking about the sacrificial system this morning,

but it was a moment of worship for Solomon.

It was a moment of extravagant worship that cost him greatly.

He held nothing back.

And that night, God appeared to Solomon.

God told Solomon that he could ask him for anything that he wanted.

And Solomon responded with such deep humility.

He said to the Lord,

Here I am.

You've made me the king of your people.

And who am I to rule over them?

Who am I to take care of them?

To oversee the kingdom?

To ensure that what's good and what's right and just is done among all these people of yours?

And so Solomon asked God for wisdom.

He asked God for a wise and discerning heart.

Specifically so that he could govern and lead the people well as their king.

And God was so deeply pleased with Solomon's request that he answered and gave him what he asked for.

In fact, God made Solomon not only the wisest man who had ever lived up until that point,

but he made him into an even wiser man than any future man would ever be except for one.

And that, of course, is Jesus.

As I was reading again about some of the wisdom that Solomon had,

I was astounded by it.

It says he was held in awe by all the people of Israel because of his great wisdom.

From the rulings and decisions he made to the way that he set up and organized the kingdom

to the peace and prosperity that came to the whole nation and to everyone in it

because of the things that he was doing.

And the people, it says, they knew, they understood that it was God who had given him this great wisdom.

With his wisdom, he built the temple of the Lord.

Probably the most beautiful, ornate, maybe even the most expensive building ever made on earth.

The most holy place, kind of just an inner part of the temple,

was overlaid with about 21 metric tons of gold.

By today's figures, that's almost a billion dollars worth of gold.

Never mind the rest of the temple and its furnishings.

Even the nails, apparently, in the most holy place were made of gold.

Only the best for the place where God would live among his people.

And we might wonder, well, where did Solomon get all this wealth?

God gave him unbelievable wisdom for trade and for foreign exchange and administration.

He was so wise that he was known across the world in his day.

Listen to what it says in 1 Kings 4, verse 29.

1 Kings 4:29

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the east

and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezraite,

wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol.

I don't know who any of these guys are, personally,

but I'm sure that the writer is just listing off all the wisest, the best thinkers,

the greatest philosophers of Solomon's day.

He was wiser than all of them.

And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.

He spoke 3,000 proverbs and his songs numbered 1,005.

He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the walls.

He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.

From all nations, people came to listen to Solomon's wisdom,

sent by all the kings of the world who had heard of his wisdom.

You may have heard the story of the Queen of Sheba traveling up from the south to pay Solomon a visit,

and she was just absolutely astounded and in awe by his kingdom and his wisdom.

At the height of Solomon's empire, his yearly, yearly intake of gold was about 23 tons.

Again, almost a billion dollars by our valuing today.

And then the author is careful to remind us, well, that was just the gold.

Don't forget about all his revenues from merchants and traders

and from all the Arabian kings and from all the governors of all the surrounding territories

that he ruled over.

In 2 Chronicles 9, it says,

He was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon

to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift,

articles of silver and gold and robes,

weapons and spices and horses and mules.

A little further down,

The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones

and cedar as plentiful as sycamore fig trees in the foothills.

Reflecting on the building of his palace, it says,

Nothing was made of silver because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's day.

Amazing.

Apart from Jesus, Solomon was the wisest man the earth had ever known.

And it's because God, the one who created the universe, gave him this great wisdom.

So let me ask you something this morning.

If you had lived in Solomon's day,

And by chance, you had been given an opportunity to come to his palace

and to have a private gathering with him, a meeting with him,

would you take that opportunity?

The chance to hear some of his great wisdom?

Well, the amazing thing is that we have the very words that Solomon spoke right here in our Bibles today.

And so as I read from Proverbs chapter 6,

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

I want you to imagine that that's where you are,

that you've been invited here this morning to Solomon's palace,

something that very few ordinary folk like you and me would ever get a chance to do,

a private gathering with the legendary, world-renowned King Solomon.

What might he say to you?

Imagine you're sitting there sipping a glass of something.

The contents of the cup are so expensive that it's more than you can even,

than your whole net worth.

And you look around at the palace and you see the gold-decked walls.

You see all of this amazing artwork that he's collected from all over the world,

these amazing furnishings.

And you consider his great kingdom.

And finally you come up with a question,

something that you feel, well, maybe I should ask, I could ask this.

Your Majesty, King Solomon,

how have you managed to accomplish all of this in under 40 years?

It's really a question of astonishment and wonder.

But maybe if you're honest, you're looking for some priceless wisdom

to help you out in your own life.

And we all know the God answer to this question.

Solomon has accomplished all this by his wisdom,

and his wisdom, as we have said,

came as a special gift from God.

God blessed the work of his hands,

and that's how he did it.

Without that, he would have just been another king of Israel.

And of course, Solomon would have been an arrogant fool

not to give God the credit and the glory

for all that he had done in his great kingdom.

But on a different level, from a different angle,

Solomon, can you give us some practical wisdom from God?

How have you accomplished all this in less than 40 years?

What might his response have been?

Perhaps it would have been this.

Proverbs 6, verse 6.

Proverbs 6:6

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.

Can you imagine that?

Here you are, sitting in the presence of one of the greatest,

wisest, wealthiest kings who ever lived,

and you're asking him for some practical wisdom

to help you be more productive in life,

and he basically says to you,

go out into your backyard

and sit down in the grass

and watch some ants.

If anybody else had answered your question like this,

you might have laughed in their face.

Are you kidding me?

Human beings here,

we're the most intelligent creatures on earth.

You're telling me to go learn a lesson

from those tiny little guys

that I accidentally step on in the backyard all the time?

That's a good one.

But then you look around again

and you think of this magnificent palace

and all Solomon has achieved.

Could it really be

that Solomon himself,

with the wisdom that God gave him,

grew more wise

by watching and studying ants?

You better believe it.

God has a way of humbling us

when we need to be humbled,

of using the small

and the weak

and the lowly things

to humble the proud

and the strong.

Of all the things

that God commands us to do

in the Bible,

this is perhaps one of the most surprising.

Go watch the ants,

he says.

And of course,

he doesn't mean just go look at them.

I think most translations get it right

when they say,

consider its ways.

Consider.

Yes, watch them,

but also think about them.

Reflect on what they're doing.

Ponder them

and learn wisdom from them.

And then Solomon gives us

just enough of a tidbit

of what he's seen

from watching the ants

to get us started,

to whet our wisdom appetite.

He says,

you know,

ants have no commander,

no overseer,

no ruler.

You'll never see

some of the ants

just kind of standing

on the side

as the worker ants go by,

making sure that all the ants

are doing their jobs.

And if one of those ants

decides to get out of line

and slack off,

you'll never see

one of them go over there

and smack it on the abdomen

and say, get back to work.

You'll never see that with ants.

They just do their jobs

when nobody is looking.

Now we might wonder why.

Well, it's beyond us

to figure out

what really goes on

in the brain of an ant

or if they even have motivations.

But let's consider

for a moment

with Solomon

the challenges

of the ant.

He says,

it stores its provisions

in summer.

And so we think

of the challenge

of winter.

How do those little critters

survive up to six months

of that?

Canadian winters.

Think about this

from the perspective

of an ant.

Six months of that

must be like

an ice age to them.

Those piles of snow,

those drifts

must be like

Everest's

to them.

The whole world

becomes a frozen,

barren wasteland.

And not only

is the cold a threat,

but the scarcity

of food is a threat.

In order to survive

the winter,

the ants must make

some serious preparations.

They must prepare

a fully functional

underground bunker

and it's got to be

fully stocked

and supplied

to go all those

months.

They've got to get

enough food

to survive

that whole long

period

even before it

starts.

And not only that,

think of it in terms

of the number

of mouths

to feed.

Apparently the

smaller ant colonies

have about 500

ants in them,

but they can go up

to 10,000.

And I never knew

this before this week,

but they can even

group with other

colonies to form

super colonies

in the millions

in some places.

500,

let's go with

the small number,

500 mouths

to feed

for six months.

It's not a perfect

analogy because

ants don't eat

or function like

we do,

but just imagine

trying to meal plan

for 500 people

for six months

in an underground

shelter

with no contact

with the outside

world,

no grocery stores

to go shopping

at.

That's going to

take some serious

planning and

preparations to get

the whole colony

of 500 up to

10,000 through

that.

No wonder they

work almost

non-stop from

the time that the

snow melts to

the time that it

falls again.

If they didn't,

there probably

wouldn't be too

many of them

left.

at least not

up here in our

climate.

So how do they

do it?

It's their

diligence.

Maybe you've

seen an ant

doing some work.

Maybe you've had

ants in your home

even.

They're relentless.

They're tireless.

They're persistent

in their work

all through

those summer

months.

We might call

them prudent.

Whether they're

actually planning

or thinking ahead,

I don't know.

Probably God

instilled them

with some kind

of natural

instinct and

programming,

a God-given

wisdom of sorts

so that they can

flourish and thrive

according to his

good design.

But it's the work

itself that they

do, all that

work through the

summer, that

ensures their

survival.

And boy, can

ants work.

have you ever

taken the time

just to watch

ants at work?

I've had a couple

good opportunities.

When I lived in

Edmonton, I

remembered just

marveling.

We had a giant

colony underneath

the concrete pad

in our backyard.

Every time I would

put the lawnmower on

there and start it

up, the vibrations

would send them

out every side,

thousands of them.

It was amazing.

I even tried

wiping them all

out a couple

times because they

were pretty close

to the house.

I didn't want them

to get in.

And yet, it seemed

like within days,

I'd do it again

and there's thousands

more.

Where are these

things coming from?

Well, one day,

these ants had

found something

tasty in the back

alley.

And I couldn't

believe it.

I just watched

as all in a line,

about over 20

feet away, they

just marched.

All the way

out, grabbed a

hunk of whatever

it was, I can't

even remember.

It was about half

the size of the

ant.

And then they

would lug this

thing all the way

back to the

colony.

And they would

just go back and

forth all day

long.

It was amazing.

You tried to put

something in the

line, they would

just go around and

get back on the

line and keep

going.

I was reminded

of this all again

this week because

some ants actually

found their way

into my basement

this past week

here in Davidson.

I just noticed a

little something

scurrying across the

floor in the

washroom.

Okay.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

Uh-oh.

We got a problem

here.

I started following

this trail of ants

into the hallway,

into my bedroom,

going under my bed,

and there's this

little hole by the

baseboard and the

carpet.

And they, one by one,

just crawling up out

of that.

All the way to the

other side of the

house, they were

going in the bathroom,

down the hallway,

into the kids'

bedroom.

And then at the very

end, you could see

different ants kind of

just wandering all

over the place,

scouting for any kind

of food to eat.

It's amazing.

They were doing

that in the morning,

first thing, when I

saw them, and they

were still going hard

in the evening when I

went to bed.

Hopefully they got

lots of good food from

the ant traps that I

put down for them,

because I don't want to

have a total infestation.

But amazing creatures,

and according to God,

they are creatures that

we're meant to learn

from.

Go to the ant, you

sluggard.

They are an example

of wisdom, of

diligence, of

discipline.

You want to accomplish

more in life?

Then, says Solomon,

you need to work like

they do.

You need to make the

most of every

opportunity you have

to work while you

have it.

So how can we apply

these words?

How can we put them

into practice?

Well, if it's been a

while since you last

took some time to

consider the ways of

the ants, I'll invite

you this week to even

go out and take a few

minutes to do some

ant watching.

You're probably

thinking that's funny.

You can't be serious.

What a waste of time.

I'm not joking.

I don't think Solomon

was joking.

I think he actually

meant for us to take

a close look and to

understand the lesson.

So I want to encourage

you to try that this

week.

And if you can't find

some ants, there's

lots of them on

YouTube.

And there's lots of

phenomenal videos just

showing the kinds of

things they do.

I saw one little video

clip of a wasp nest

hanging from a roof.

And a trail of ants,

they made a bridge of

themselves into the

nest from on top of

the roof.

And they were crawling

on a chain of ants

into this thing,

invading the nest,

dismantling it and

taking it back to

their colony for food.

Amazing.

There's other things,

all kinds of things

you can see.

I'll let you search it

up and see it.

The second thing,

and this is kind of a

more general principle

to consider.

Do you know that the

entire created world

is full of similar

kinds of lessons?

God has infused all of

creation with his

beyond measure wisdom.

Everything you see in

nature points to his

glory.

Some things offer a

practical wisdom lesson

like this one.

Others might give us

creative inspiration for

our own inventions and

creations.

Think about it.

this is not the only

wisdom lesson in the

Bible that's drawn from

nature.

Solomon will tell us

many more things like

this through the rest of

his Proverbs and in

Ecclesiastes.

Jesus will tell us to

look at and consider the

birds, to take a lesson

from them and the

flowers of the field.

He pointed his disciples

to seeds, to sowing and

planting, to rain, to

clouds, to thunder, to

lightning.

The men who wrote the

Psalms pointed us to the

sun, the moon, the

stars, the mountains, the

seas and their powerful

waves, the meadows and

the grasses.

There's lessons to be

learned from all these

things that God has made

from sheep and goats,

lions, the deer, and

yes, even from the rock

badgers that I saw at the

Calgary Zoo last week.

They're actually in

Proverbs, believe it or

not.

All of creation is filled

with the wisdom of God.

And so I want to

encourage you this summer

to open not just your

eyes but your hearts to

that possibility, to that

reality.

I want to encourage you

as you go your way this

summer, maybe some of you

are going on vacation,

maybe you're going to be

outside a little bit more

because the weather is

nice.

You'll probably see lots of

things but take some time

to linger over them and

ask God to open your

heart to the wisdom, to

the lessons that he has

for you, even in the

stuff of nature which he

has made.

Don't just go to the ant

this summer, go to all of

it.

But back to the ant for a

moment.

None of us really wants to

admit that we are a

sluggard.

I don't even like that

word.

It's a pretty strong word,

isn't it?

I really like the Christian

Standard Bible.

It translates it a little

differently.

It says, go to the ant, you

slacker.

That's kind of a good

modern day rendition of

that.

It's a word that's sometimes

used in parallel with

foolishness.

And probably none of us

wants to admit that we are

foolish or sluggardish or a

slacker or lazy.

But then we might wonder,

well, how would I know if

I am?

How do you measure if you're

working long enough or

hard enough?

We can't always trust our

feelings about it because

the person who's lazy is a

sack of potatoes feels like

he's doing all he can each

day.

But on the other hand,

must I always feel guilty

about stopping to take some

rest, to take a break, to

take a night off?

We can't go by our

feelings.

And so probably the next

thing that we'll do is we'll

start to compare ourselves to

others.

But even that way of

measuring is unreliable

because truthfully we can

all think of some people

that work much harder, much

longer than we do.

And we can all think of some

people who compared to us

seem lazy.

Is a sluggard just someone

who's really lazy compared

to me?

If that were the case, then

this advice would only be

for a very few people.

Or is Solomon aiming this

wise advice at a mindset,

at a mentality, at an

attitude that any of us can

have?

Is it possible that by God's

measure, I am a sluggard?

Are you willing to ask that

question of God this week?

Lord, am I working long

enough?

Am I working hard enough?

Am I working on the right

things?

The things that are most

important in life, the things

that you would have me do?

I want to encourage you to

simply ask God some of these

questions this week in prayer.

Because this is something that

we need his help to see if it's

in our lives.

We need his spirit to convict us

of this.

And as we do that, let's not

misunderstand the lesson from the

ant.

It's not that we should work

constantly and never rest.

If we're listening carefully,

Solomon, God is saying that we

should work diligently when we

have the opportunity to do so.

Because a time or season or day

is coming, may come, when that

window of opportunity will be

closed.

And we can apply this to all

sorts of things.

We could apply this to old age.

There comes a day when you're no

longer able to work like you're

used to.

Are you being careful to store up

provisions for that day?

Or are you going further and

further and further into debt?

We could apply this to seasonal

work.

We all know that feeling of the

leaves hitting the ground and,

oh, we've got to get them up

before the snow is coming.

Sometimes we need to burn the

midnight oil just to get things

done.

We could apply this to the work

of any given day.

There's only so much light in a

day.

We have the opportunity to work

during the day, to connect with

people while they're awake during

the day.

But when evening rolls around,

those doors start to close.

We could apply this like Jesus did

to the spiritual work of meeting

the needs of others.

Are we making the most of our

opportunity to connect with others

and to serve others, to reach out to

people who don't know Christ and

build relationships with them?

Because we know that eventually those

opportunities, those doors will close

for one reason or another.

Whether the Lord takes us home or that

person or their family move somewhere

else.

I want to encourage you to pray about

this this week.

You may not need to go to the aunt for a

lesson about working more hours at your

job or around your house.

But maybe when it comes to your spiritual

life, you've been a slacker, a sluggard.

Maybe you know that there's something in

your life that you really should be working

at, but you've been putting it off and

putting it off and putting it off.

So I just want to simply encourage you to

ask the Lord about this this week.

And I trust that he will show you, that

he will show me as I ask him to what we

need to hear, what is really going on in

our hearts this week.

And the good news is this.

When we ask, God gives grace.

He gives help.

He gives strength to those who earnestly

and humbly seek it from him.

So let's do that.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for this lesson,

this simple, practical lesson of wisdom

that you've put into your word.

God, we pray that you would put it deep

in our hearts.

Make us diligent in all the areas of life

that matter most.

help us to see where we need to change,

where we need to grow.

Open our eyes to the countless lessons

that you would have us learn this summer

through all that we see that you have made.

We love you.

We give you praise.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.