THREE ANGELS BROADCASTING NETWORK DEVOTIONAL.
Stop to Consider.
By Jenni Poling
April 17th, 2026
“Go to the ant you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
Proverbs 6:6-8
Ants fascinate me. They are an amazing example of industriousness and societal harmony. Ants have some very specialized means of communication, defense, nest building, and gathering food. They leave trails and communicate through touch, and their jaws can pinch and catapult. Some ants sting, too. In fact, a bullet ant sting is considered more painful than any other insect sting.
Some ants nest in the ground while others nest in trees. Some make bivouac nests using their own bodies. Some make nests of leaves, using leverage from "bridges" of their own bodies and fastening the leaf edges together with silk from their larvae. Some ants will clear a patch of all vegetation, except for their preferred nesting trees.
There are leaf-cutter ants that chew up leaves to grow fungus as a food source. Some keep aphids, mealy bugs, or caterpillars for "livestock," feeding on the honeydew they produce. Some even chew up grain to make something like bread.
My curiosity was aroused one day when I encountered a stream of ants crossing the road. It didn't seem as orderly as a normal ant trail, but they were milling about in a path six to eight inches wide. I snapped a few photos with my phone and submitted them to a nature identification app, and I was stunned when I found out they were slave-raider ants! They invade the nests of other closely related ants and steal their eggs or larvae, forcing them to work in their colonies. These ants become so dependent that they can no longer feed themselves.
How could this exist? I believe it is evidence of the enemy at work, for these ants are certainly not the example they should be. But perhaps there is still something we can learn from them. Comparing ant life with human experience, we can see that beyond the evil of stealing the lives of others, beyond oppression and cruelty, there is another insidious evil—the loss of self-reliance. You see, a slave has no vested interest in how a job is done since they don't reap any benefit or reward for doing it well. The slave-holder is perhaps even worse off because considering all manual labor to be beneath them, they lose their capacity to do it. Like the raider ants, they can't even take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, slavery is not, as some might suppose, a thing of the past. Slavery has taken myriad forms and exists wherever strength, ability, and virtue are stolen from another. It exists where oppression controls and keeps others in subjection. It steals from the past, present, and future.
So what is the cure? The Bible points to a solution in Philippians 2:3: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” We must stand together, respecting every other as a part of the fabric of society and beloved of God. Prepare to stand in your place today.
Stop to Consider.
By Jenni Poling
April 17th, 2026
“Go to the ant you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
Proverbs 6:6-8
Ants fascinate me. They are an amazing example of industriousness and societal harmony. Ants have some very specialized means of communication, defense, nest building, and gathering food. They leave trails and communicate through touch, and their jaws can pinch and catapult. Some ants sting, too. In fact, a bullet ant sting is considered more painful than any other insect sting.
Some ants nest in the ground while others nest in trees. Some make bivouac nests using their own bodies. Some make nests of leaves, using leverage from "bridges" of their own bodies and fastening the leaf edges together with silk from their larvae. Some ants will clear a patch of all vegetation, except for their preferred nesting trees.
There are leaf-cutter ants that chew up leaves to grow fungus as a food source. Some keep aphids, mealy bugs, or caterpillars for "livestock," feeding on the honeydew they produce. Some even chew up grain to make something like bread.
My curiosity was aroused one day when I encountered a stream of ants crossing the road. It didn't seem as orderly as a normal ant trail, but they were milling about in a path six to eight inches wide. I snapped a few photos with my phone and submitted them to a nature identification app, and I was stunned when I found out they were slave-raider ants! They invade the nests of other closely related ants and steal their eggs or larvae, forcing them to work in their colonies. These ants become so dependent that they can no longer feed themselves.
How could this exist? I believe it is evidence of the enemy at work, for these ants are certainly not the example they should be. But perhaps there is still something we can learn from them. Comparing ant life with human experience, we can see that beyond the evil of stealing the lives of others, beyond oppression and cruelty, there is another insidious evil—the loss of self-reliance. You see, a slave has no vested interest in how a job is done since they don't reap any benefit or reward for doing it well. The slave-holder is perhaps even worse off because considering all manual labor to be beneath them, they lose their capacity to do it. Like the raider ants, they can't even take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, slavery is not, as some might suppose, a thing of the past. Slavery has taken myriad forms and exists wherever strength, ability, and virtue are stolen from another. It exists where oppression controls and keeps others in subjection. It steals from the past, present, and future.
So what is the cure? The Bible points to a solution in Philippians 2:3: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” We must stand together, respecting every other as a part of the fabric of society and beloved of God. Prepare to stand in your place today.
THREE ANGELS BROADCASTING NETWORK DEVOTIONAL.
Stop to Consider.
By Jenni Poling
April 17th, 2026
“Go to the ant you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”
Proverbs 6:6-8
Ants fascinate me. They are an amazing example of industriousness and societal harmony. Ants have some very specialized means of communication, defense, nest building, and gathering food. They leave trails and communicate through touch, and their jaws can pinch and catapult. Some ants sting, too. In fact, a bullet ant sting is considered more painful than any other insect sting.
Some ants nest in the ground while others nest in trees. Some make bivouac nests using their own bodies. Some make nests of leaves, using leverage from "bridges" of their own bodies and fastening the leaf edges together with silk from their larvae. Some ants will clear a patch of all vegetation, except for their preferred nesting trees.
There are leaf-cutter ants that chew up leaves to grow fungus as a food source. Some keep aphids, mealy bugs, or caterpillars for "livestock," feeding on the honeydew they produce. Some even chew up grain to make something like bread.
My curiosity was aroused one day when I encountered a stream of ants crossing the road. It didn't seem as orderly as a normal ant trail, but they were milling about in a path six to eight inches wide. I snapped a few photos with my phone and submitted them to a nature identification app, and I was stunned when I found out they were slave-raider ants! They invade the nests of other closely related ants and steal their eggs or larvae, forcing them to work in their colonies. These ants become so dependent that they can no longer feed themselves.
How could this exist? I believe it is evidence of the enemy at work, for these ants are certainly not the example they should be. But perhaps there is still something we can learn from them. Comparing ant life with human experience, we can see that beyond the evil of stealing the lives of others, beyond oppression and cruelty, there is another insidious evil—the loss of self-reliance. You see, a slave has no vested interest in how a job is done since they don't reap any benefit or reward for doing it well. The slave-holder is perhaps even worse off because considering all manual labor to be beneath them, they lose their capacity to do it. Like the raider ants, they can't even take care of themselves.
Unfortunately, slavery is not, as some might suppose, a thing of the past. Slavery has taken myriad forms and exists wherever strength, ability, and virtue are stolen from another. It exists where oppression controls and keeps others in subjection. It steals from the past, present, and future.
So what is the cure? The Bible points to a solution in Philippians 2:3: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” We must stand together, respecting every other as a part of the fabric of society and beloved of God. Prepare to stand in your place today.
0 Comments
0 Shares
13 Views
Arabic
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Deutsch
Turkish
Dutch
Italiano
Russian
Romaian
Portuguese (Brazil)
Greek
हिन्दी