Prov. 30:24-28 gives us three bugs and a badger, each one illustrating a principle of wisdom. First, what does the ant teach us?

All of God’s creation declares evidence of design. But concerning some of His critters God tells us their purpose. In the next four articles we will look at four such creatures. “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” (Prov. 30:24-28)
Bugs make good teachers since there are lots of them- 800,000 known species in the world! It is estimated if we put all the animals on one side of a scale and all the bugs on the other, the bugs would outweigh the animals 3 to 1!
The first lesson from this foursome is a lesson in preparation. Eight thousand species of ants exist in the world, 104 in the eastern hemisphere where the Bible was written. Ants are mentioned just twice in Scripture, here, and in Proverbs 6:6-8. In both they are praised for their foresight in preparing for predictable difficulties.
If Solomon is referring here to the Harvester ant, as in Proverbs 6, he was speaking of a reddish brown bug that lives in dry areas in underground tunnels 25 feet long and at least 6 feet deep. Unlike many ant species, Harvesters have no queen but work together serving each other for the good of the colony. They gather grain, divide it by kind, and store it in separate compartments off of their tunnels.
Ants are diligent. A man-sized ant would travel 68 miles a day, at speeds up to 65 mph!
Ants work together. Indeed an ant is not strong. Yet some ants can lift objects 50 times their weight! One ant cannot do much, yet together they accomplish a great deal, each one doing its job for the good of the others.
Ants gather during times of plenty to prepare for times of leanness. God calls this wise.
Though a financial lesson of investments may be learned from this, Jesus reminded us we have greater riches than money. Are we gathering Scripture in our minds for a time when it won’t be so easy to learn? Are we listening to good preaching now, knowing a time may come when either it won’t be available, or we won’t be able to hear? Are we training our children now while they are young and open? Are we witnessing while we are still free to do so? Are we living today in light of the coming of Christ?
How well are we preparing ourselves and our families for the predictable future? How well are we learning God’s design lessons from the ants?