Devotionals
The Ant
Once again I was on my back porch doing devotions. I had asked God to open my eyes and ears to the message He had for me that day. I had no more got finished when an ant caught my eye. Well, to be truthful it wasn't an ant. It was a piece of dog food moving along the porch floor. It was a small piece, but because it was orange and moving rather quickly it caught my eye. As I looked closer I finally saw it...a small ant. I am talking a small ant. The food was several times bigger than the ant. I had to really get close to see it. I sat and watch this scene for a few minutes. At one point the ant stopped and left the food. He was running from it. I was sure he had given up. The ant moved about for several minutes. All at once I noticed the ant had gone back to his first position and starting pulling the food again. After a while I took my eyes off of it. I looked back to discover the food and ant had disappeared. How amazing it was to see this small ant pull this big (to him) piece of dog food to wherever and for whatever reason.
A few thoughts came to mind. The first thought I thought was how alike I was with the ant. There are times I feel I am pulling the weight of the world on my shoulders. There are times I feel I am pulling and making very little head way. Problems, situations, and life sometimes seem bigger than me. I believe the ant either stopped to take a rest or needed to look the situation over. I am different from the ant in a couple of ways. First, even though I think I have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulder I don't have to. Instead of pulling around "things" I can't do anything about, instead of "worrying" about situations where I can't find the light at the end of the tunnel I have an alternative. My alternative is prayer. Giving them over to God is so much easier than pulling and tugging and getting no where. In Psalm 55:22 it says, " Give your worries to the Lord, and He will take care of you. He will never let good people down". Also in Jeremiah 29:11-13 it says, "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for Me. And when you search for Me with all your heart, you will find me". I have the assurance that I can give my worries, those situations I can't handle over to God. He will listen and all that "stuff" I have on my shoulders He'll take away. I do that, but just like the ant there are times I go back and take it on again. I pick up the load and start again. I have to learn to give it to God and never take it back again. Because I am human and I am not perfect this is one lesson I keep having to learn. I just found a verse that I love. In Psalm 116:1 it says, "I love the Lord, because He listens to my prayers for help. He paid attention to me, so I will call to Him for help as long as I live". Because I am human I am going to take the "stuff" back and carry it once more, yet I know when I do and it becomes to heavy God will take if from me again. All I have to do is ask.
Another thought that came to my mind as I was watching this was I noticed he was alone. There were other small ants in the area, but none came over to help him or offer to take his place. When I am struggling with issues, situations, and people I have Christian friends I can call on who will come along side me and help me through whatever I am going through. I used to be afraid to call people and ask them to pray for me. I thought that was being selfish. Then I realized I would be upset if I knew a friend needed prayer and didn't call me. If a friend needed help I would want to be there to pull her through and help carry her load to God in prayer. In Matthew 18:19-20 it says, "I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them". Also in James 5:16 it says, "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much". God commands us to pray for one another. There has been times people have come to me and offered to pray with me and I have not had to share with them what was going on. They either already knew or God had placed a burden on their heart and they just came calling. Whatever the case we are to help one another either in prayer or service.
The last thing that came to mind was here this little ant was pulling and pulling to take this big piece of food back to the others to share it with them. Now I think that, because if he intended to eat it and not share he would have already done so. There are times I find sharing with others a big burden. It is more than I can do sometimes. It seems to me (God has a funny sense of humor) God intends for me to share with people those things I find difficult to share. For example, the lessons I have learned from having two fires occur in our family now or losing a baby six weeks after birth, or having a brother commit suicide or any of the other many incidents in my life. Those are things I have lived through and I don't care to go through them again. Yet, God puts them on my shoulders so I can share what He has done in my life. Sometimes it is a burden to share with others when I have other things to do and no time. I just want to get on about my business when God gives me an opportunity to share. If we don't share our faith with others they may not know the love God has for them or His promise of eternal life.
The thought occurred to me maybe he is not planning on sharing. He is just storing this up somewhere and he is going to nibble on it himself. That is what I need to do every day. I need to nibble on what God has provided for me. He has provided me with a book that feeds my soul every day that I read it. I am surrounded by many wonderful authors God has blessed with the talent of writing. I have the power to feed my soul through Christian music and prayer. I need to store up those blessings on a daily basis so when I need to be fed I have the resources to not only be fed, but made full.
I marvel at what God teaches me when I ask Him to open my eyes and ears. He takes the simple things of life and teaches me some wonderful truths. All He asks in return is that I share with others so they may grow in His knowledge. How long has it been since you asked God to open your eyes and ears to the things around you? All you have to do is ask and listen. God will teach you in some way just as He teaches me. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened". (Matthew 7:7-8). Seek Him today!
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