SUNDAY JANUARY 24TH, 2021

MEMORY VERSE: - “Which having no guide, overseer or ruler, provide her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:7&8).

INTRODUCTION: -The ants are indeed a special creation of God, a bundle of qualities that amaze man. The counsel of God to us to “Go to the ant, consider her ways, and be wise” is one that every Christian must imbibe and yield seriously to. There are a lot indeed to learn from the ants.

1) Be foresighted And Prudent: - The ants in their wisdom gather food in summer, process and store food against winter or time of need. Thus, they are not wasters. Just as they don’t waste time, they don’t waste other resources. They plan and prepare today for the future unknown (prov.30:25). As believers we must learn to be prudent and not waste the resources of God at our disposal.

The ants have visions, they have good foresight and they prudently prepare for the future (Prov.29:18; 30:25).

A good foresight helps you to plan and prepare ahead of time and eventually. Nothing comes to meet you unprepared for it.

A foresighted student starts preparing for his final result from his or her first day in school. A foresighted Civil servant begins to prepare for his retirement from his first resumption date.

A foresighted person cares and provides for his future (he saves for the rainy day). He is providently careful and prudently planning and providing for his future.

A foresighted person exercised prudence and care in the management of his resources to cater for his uncertain future.

2) Be Kind: - The ants are very happy creatures. There seems to be nothing like selfishness among them (Rom.12:10).

3) Be Organised:- One of the most organized and decent creatures of God are ants. Always in a well organized posture. When moving, they line up, no matter their number, in order. If anything disrupts the line, within a twinkling of an eye, you see them re-organize themselves on queue. You can never see any of them jump queue. They are very decent and in order (1Corint.14:40).

If we could be sure organized, there would be peace, decorum and progress in the society.

4) Be Diligent: - The ants are very diligent creatures, working assiduously until task is accomplish.

Diligence is the key to greatness and success (Prov.22:29; 10:4-5; 12:24; 27; 13:4). Diligence is a part of divine nature. God is very diligent, working all through until He saw that everything was good (Gen.1-2; 25) and He is still working now (John 5:17).

Jesus Christ our Lord left us with the example of diligence (John 9:4).

Diligence is part of the divine nature we must partake of as believers (2Ptr.1:4).

5) Community or Village Living: - Deborah sang that village life has cease (Judges 6:7) but not among the ants. The ants live a community life of brotherly love and care for one another. To rebuild our broken down social order, security and respect, we must learn from the ants to live communally.

Truly, the ants are a people not strong, yet (they are doing mighty things) prepare their meat in the summer. (Prov.30:25). They make hails when the sun shines. We must be humble to learn from the small and fragile creatures that are embodiment of godly counsel to men!

1. Why are the ants said to be foresighted?

2. What can we do to correct the malaise in our society?