Ants

Teresa and I were talking yesterday about the needs we just saw a week ago in Ethiopia. There is so much need and we have so little resources. She said she feels like a little ant.

Imagine the ant going back and forth from the scrap of food to the ant hill. The ant doesn't get discouraged and say, "Well it's too little food for such a long walk so I just won't do anything". The ant leader picks the closest food and the colony starts the work. Back and forth, back and forth; one crumb at a time. What are they really getting done? This is way too much work for one little crumb, but is it?

If they didn't, each one, do their part the entire hill would die.

Now imagine that we are ants but we have God as our Provider. God gives us some work to do and it seems like the "crumbs" are really far from the "hill" but that is where we are called to work. We work each day going to and from that "crumb", and as we work we pray that God would deliver to us a feast closer to the hill. Well, it only takes God dropping an entire picnic basket right next to the hill to change both our attitude and the effectiveness of our work.

So, we must not get discouraged that we are undertaking too great a task. We must not grumble that God has made the task too far away. We must not grumble at His provision. We must rejoice in His provision and pray that He would give us fruit in our labors and if He decides to drop a "picnic basket" right next to us, then He alone is the One who is deserving of our praise.

I hope this encourages you as you contemplate God's faithfulness to the ant hill.