Consider the Ant
Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Intro: There are over 10,000 different species of ants. Ants are found all over the world except in ANTartica.
Some colonies have as few as 10 ants.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Some colonies can have more ants than San Francisco has people!
We classify ants not by their color or size, but by the way they live.
Ants are very clean and tidy. - Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump!
God’s word tells us to Consider the Ant.
That word consider means to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider
We can learn a lot from the example of the ants.
I. Consider the Ant's Diligence
Notice the text. The context here is laziness and slothfulness.
6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
FUN FACT: Ants never stop working.
2 Corinthians 8:7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
Proverbs 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.
Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
II. Consider the Ant's Determination
FUN FACT: Ants can carry 5 to 20 times their body weight,
I believe that the favorite saying of most kids is “I CAN’T!!!”
When their parents tell them to do something, their first response is I CAN’T!!!
I CAN’T find my shoes.
I CAN’T finish my food.
I CAN’T do my homework.
I CAN’T…
FUN FACT: Ants can climb over anything!
There is nothing an ant can't get over.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
III. Consider the Ant's Dealings
Ants are called social insects because they live and work in groups.
FUN FACT: Ants will work together in small or large groups to move heavier things.
Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
The individual ants in a colony are so dutiful to their operation that some observers have suggested that the individual ants act more like cells in an organism than like individual free-living organisms.
1 Corinthians 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1 Corinthians 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
FUN FACTS: Two ants from the same colony who meet up will each go about their own business, or even feed one another, after a brief 'hello'.
They touch each other's antennae to acknowledge them.
There is a gland in the head of some species of ants called the Mandibular gland which produces a substance which, among other things, acts as an alarm chemical and is used to alert other ants to impending danger or attack.
When released this substance will cause nearby ants to adopt a state of readiness and will cause them to come to the aid of the stricken ant.
IV. Consider the Ant's Diet
FUN FACT: Sweet materials are preferred by most species.
There is nothing sweeter to man than the Word of God!
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalms 19:10 More to be desired [are they] than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Scientists have concluded that honey is the sweetest natural thing in the world.
And God’s Word is sweeter than honey!
FUN FACT: The workers lay down a chemical trail as they forage, which helps direct other workers to food.
The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs.
What does that tell us? It tells us that we should be preoccupied with showing others where the food is!
We should lay down trails to help direct others to the food.
We do that when we pass out Gospel tracts!
FUN FACT: One stomach holds the food for itself and the second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants.
We should be like the ants – read and study God’s word for ourselves, and then share what we have learned with others.
V. Consider the Ant's Defense
FUN FACT: Ants have what is known as “compound eyes” - you can't sneak up on an ant!
They are always watching!
I Peter 5:8 Be sober; be vigilant!
1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
FUN FACT: Ants are covered with armor for protection.
In Ephesians 6, we are commanded to put on the whole armor of God.
FUN FACT: All ants are able to defend themselves and their nests, brood, and queens, by (depending on the species) biting, stinging, or the spraying of formic acid.
God has given every one of us an amazing way to defend ourself from attacks.
It is the “sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.”
Upon insertion of the sting the ant will inject a form of poison that will kill or paralyze its prey or enemy.
Though these effects may not work on larger animals, the pain from several stings is enough to send the animal running.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Another attribute to the way ants defend themselves and their colonies is by sheer numbers; to a small invertebrate or even to some small mammals, the sight of hundreds or thousands of angry ants swarming towards them will send them scurrying for safety.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
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