Encouraging Stories

A Lesson From An Ant

Brenda was a young woman that wanted to learn to go rock climbing.

Although she was scared to death she went with a group and they faced this tremendous cliff of rock.

Practically perpendicular. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear and she took a hold of the rope and she started up the face of that rock.  

Well, 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 almost impossible to find.

Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with who know how many hundreds of feet behind and hundreds of feet above her.

Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping that she would be able to find that contact lens. Here she was, very far from home. Her sight was now blurry.

She was very upset by the fact that she wouldn't be anywhere near a place where she could get a new contact lens. And she prayed that the Lord would help her to find it.

Well, her last hope was that perhaps when she got to the top of the cliff, one of the girls that was up there on the top might be able to find her contact 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 rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to come up the face of the cliff.

She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that 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's on those mountains and You know exactly where my contact lens is."

Finally, the time came when it was time to go down.

They walked down the trail to the bottom. Just as they got there, there was a new party of rock climbers coming 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's father is a cartoonist. When she told him this incredible story, he drew a picture of that ant lugging that contact lens (as you see in the comics with a balloon with words in it over his head) with the words: "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."