Be Like an Ant

In times of financial struggle, the Bible teaches us
to follow the example of a tiny insect.
By Al Jandl and Van Crouch
Reprinted from "The Storehouse Principle" with
permission from CrossStaff Publishers.

Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise.
--Proverbs 6:6

By what principles do ants live? Proverbs 6:7-8 tells
us ants have "no captain, overseer or ruler," yet they
gather their food during the harvest and it lasts them
until the next summer. Ants produce and gather,
preparing for the future, storing up against the
winter or calamity. The ant is not just thinking about
today, she's preparing for tomorrow.

Do you remember the old fable about the ant and the
grasshopper? The ant works hard all year long to store
up for the winter, while the grasshopper plays and
gathers nothing. When winter hits and the snows fall,
the grasshopper begins to starve and must go to the
ants to beg in order to survive. Meanwhile, the ants
are warm, safe, and secure--and they have plenty to
help the grasshopper out in his need.

Notice again, God said to go to the ant--not the
grasshopper.

In order for the ant to gather and prepare for the
future, she must have a storehouse. We believe God is
teaching us that if we are wise like the ant, we will
have a storehouse for the "winter" seasons of life.
Then, as springtime begins, the ant is still living
off her storehouse, but she also begins again to
immediately gather to rebuild and strengthen her
storehouse for the next winter. The ant never stops
working on her storehouse, and always has more than
enough.

For us, "winter" could mean a number of different
things. It could mean an unexpected change in our
careers, an accident, an economic slump, or any number
of "emergencies" or "storms" that come into our lives.
Some of these may even be good things, or seasons that
we can plan for, like our children going to college,
buying a new home or car, starting our own businesses,
or even retiring. Ants don’t' live in denial,
consuming all they have today, for today, and
believing that "winter" will never come; grasshoppers,
however, do.

Even if an ant can only put one grain at a time into
her storehouses, she still does it. Her storehouses
are also in a large network of underground tunnels
(she is diversified so that if one is destroyed by a
storm, the others will still be intact); and her
storehouses have different purposes (some are to take
care of the young, others to make it through the
winter, others set aside provisions in case winter is
longer than expected, etc.). Ants work hard to take
care of themselves and their colony and don't expect
anyone else to take care of them.

Indeed, there is a great deal we can learn from seeing
what ants do with their surpluses and how diligently
they manage them and work to make sure they have more
than enough.

There has been a great deal of debate and criticism in
the church in recent years on the subject of Bible
prosperity. It is true that some have misappropriated
true prosperity for selfish purposes, but that doesn't
change the fact that God wants to bless His children.
Some people have become so upset about the subject
that they say, "I don't believe in prosperity, and I
don't like to hear about prosperity." But, prosperity
in and of itself is not evil any more than money
is--it is the attitude of our hearts and what we do
with our prosperity that matter. If we prosper and it
only makes us more greedy and selfish, then, yes,
prosperity will not be a blessing for us; but, if we
use our prosperity to secure the future of our
families and to help others, then it will be a tool in
our hands for good.

How many times do we see a need in the life of a son
or daughter or relative, or perhaps a friend or
coworker, and wish that we could help meet that need?
All around us there are people who need help to have
food and the basic necessities of life. If we have a
storehouse, we are in position to offer assistance to
those in need. Without a storehouse, we miss
opportunities to bless others.

Like the grasshopper, if we do not have a storehouse,
we are subconsciously planning for somebody else to
take care of us. When we do not have a storehouse, we
are constantly focused on our own needs rather than on
the needs of others. Look again at Proverbs 6:7: the
ant "having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides
her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in
the harvest."

Now, please don't misunderstand what is being said
here. No man or woman is an island. God did not create
us to be completely independent of other people. At
times, we all need counseling. At times, we all need
help. We need mentoring. We depend on other people for
all kinds of things. Ants work in a community helping
each other--we should do the same and realize that
sometimes the burdens we face can take several of us
to handle. But, if we're not careful, we can make
ourselves so dependent on others that we expect them
to be responsible for us instead of taking
responsibility for ourselves. The ant accepts
responsibility for meeting her own needs. The Bible
says she is busy gathering and storing up food so that
she can take care of herself.

Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about
someone paying all your bills and doing all your work?
"Take care of me, honey." "Take care of me,
government." "Take care of me, Social Security." "Take
care of me, boss." With that kind of thinking, we'll
slide into a mindset of irresponsibility.

The Bible does not say that somebody is going to ride
into our life like a knight on a white horse and
rescue us from our financial problems. We can't expect
anybody else to just walk up to us and hand us a
million dollars!

We shouldn't expect anybody to make our mortgage
payments for us. We shouldn't expect anybody to make
our car payments for us. It's not right to believe
that another human being is obligated to get us out of
debt. Yet, many of us live our lives hoping that
someone else will take care of us, or believing an
inheritance from parents will someday, miraculously,
"make us rich."

Consider the ant. She waits for no one. The ant just
gets up in the morning and stretches her six legs and
hits the road. She says by her actions, "I am not a
victim. Life may throw some curves at me, but I'm
bigger than the curves of life. Life has given me
obstacles, but I will go around them. I will go over
them. I will go through them, if necessary. I'm going
to get there, bless God. I'm going to make it. I am
not going to sit here waiting for someone else to
solve my problems. I am going to do whatever I can
today--even if it is only a little."

Some of us may have lost everything. We may not have a
dime to our name. Perhaps we have filed bankruptcy or
filed for welfare. Perhaps your home burned to the
ground or you lost your job. Well, don't be a
victim--go look at the ant. That may be where we are
living today, but that's not where we will be
tomorrow.

Wherever you are, your situation is not hopeless.
Wherever you are today or whatever has happened to you
in the past, start preparing for tomorrow. Look at
what you have--whether it is time, talent, or treasure
or any combination of these--and start building
storehouses for your future. Build a spiritual
storehouse, a natural storehouse, and a mental
storehouse. Build storehouses for yourself and for
your children, and for others. Determine to have
reserves in every area of your life, so that whatever
tries to knowck you down will never knock you out.

If an ant can do it, surely God's children can do it
as well. If a tiny insect can have determination, we
can have determination. If a miniscule insect can be
brave, we can be brave. And if the ant can be strong,
we can be strong. If the ant can be wise enough to
have a storehouse, then we should consider her ways
and be just as wise. If we do, then who knows what
great things God may do in our futures!

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