The Strongest Animal?

THE STRONGEST ANIMAL?

While tucking my boys into bed the other night, we began discussing important issues of life with my twin 10 year olds. They asked some questions such as, “Who would win, a lion or a pack of wolves?” Or, “Daddy, if you could be a superhero, what would your special powers be?” Finally, “What is the strongest animal on the planet?”

Without missing a beat, I told them that a pack of wolves would defeat a lion because a pack of wolves would never quit until their prey has been killed. I received some giggles when I explained to them that if I could be anyone, I would be “grilled cheese man.” And when it came to the strongest animal, I looked into their inquisitive eyes and told them without a doubt, it was the ANT!

“But Daddy, an ant is NOT an animal!” they shouted. I told them it doesn’t matter, the strongest living being to walk the face of this planet is undeniably the ant.

I explained that ants can carry more weight per body-size than any being ever created by God. They perform their work diligently, without question, without fail, without complaint. Ants have the ability to perceive smells through their antenna and communicate to each other using pheromones, or chemical hormones. Once a path is formed by the ant community, every ant uses it without question for they have no territorial arguments within their specie. The ant next is complex, their foraging abilities are unbelievable, their compound eyes actually use light from the sun to help them determine direction much like a compass, and some breeds of ants actually are able to feel the Earth’s magnetic field to know which way to go.

I went on to say that people benefit from ants for their underground trails naturally aerate the soil, they can be eaten as a tremendously high source of protein for people groups that are void of animal consumption, and have been used in numerous mythologies for centuries including those written by Aesop and even Mark Twain.

Then I opened my Bible and turned to the 6th chapter of Proverbs. It states, “Go the ant, you sluggard; observe its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer, or ruler, yet it prepares its food for the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat!”

The lesson to my boys became a lesson to all of us. We should serve the Lord diligently, without question, without fail, without complaint. We should use our spiritual gifts of discernment to perceive those who are hurting and those who need help. We should follow in the path made for us by Christ, and walk the path without wavering. We should live our lives void of territorial arguments, working together as fellow believers of Christ based on the Scriptures. Though our lives, jumbled up with a difficult mix of spouse, children, parents work, house, recreation, and limited time may appear complex, we should come to the Lord continuously using the Holy Spirit as our guide, like a compass. And when God seems far from us because we have maneuvered our lives in such a way that the Lord may feel distant, we just need to go outside and look at God’s creation to know He is with us.

You know, if your load seems heavy, if your life seems to be more than you can bear, we can all learn a lesson from the ant. With the Lord guiding, we can carry more than we infinitely believed possible, we just have to give our lives over to Him.