Parable of the Ant
Posted by: tz8cy5 <tz8cy5@...>
Brenda was a young woman who wanted to learn to go rock climbing. Although
she was scared to death, she went with a group and they faced this tremendous
wall of rock that was nearly perpendicular.
In spite of fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope and started up
the face of that rock. She got to a ledge where she could take a breather.
As she was hanging on there, whoever was holding the rope up at the top of
the cliff made a mistake and snapped the rope against Brenda's eye and
knocked out her contact lens. You know how tiny contact lenses are and how
they are almost impossible to find. Here she is on a rock ledge, with who
knows how many hundreds of feet behind and above her.
Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping that she would be able to
find that contact lens. Here she is, very far from home; her eyesight now
blurry. She was very upset by the fact that there wasn't anyplace near that
she could get a new contact lens. Finally she prayed that the Lord would help
her find it. Her last hope was that perhaps when she got to the top of the
cliff, one of the girls up on the top might be able to find her lens in the
corner of her eye.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye. There was no contact lens
to be found. She sat down with the group, waiting for the rest to come up
the face of the cliff.
She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of the Bible
verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole
earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every
single stone and leaf that is on these mountains and You know exactly where
my contact lens is."
Finally, the time came to go down. They walked down the trail to the bottom.
Just as they got there, a new party of rock climbers came along. As one of
them started up the face of the cliff, she shouted out, "Hey, you guys.
Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, wouldn't
it?
She had found the contact lens! But you know why she saw it? An ant was
carrying that contact lens so that it was moving slowly across the face of
the rock. What does that tell you about the God of the universe? Is He in
charge of the tiniest things??!!! Do ants matter to Him? Of course they do!
He made them. He designed them. Brenda told me that her father is a
cartoonist. When she told him this incredible story, he drew a picture of
that ant lugging that contact lens with words over his head: "Lord, I don't
know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully
heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You." If God
is in charge of the ants, don't you think He cares about you and me?
I guess Solomon was right. One could learn a valuable lesson from that ant.
Trust in God! We could probably all say a little more often: "God I don't
know why you want me to carry this load. I see no good in it, and it's
awfully heavy. Still, if you want me to, I'll carry it for You."