Moving.
It’s tedious, stressful. Some might even call it boring. But I’ll admit that it’s a great opportunity to learn a lot of things. Not only do you learn a new place—sometimes a whole new culture—but you learn about yourself and about God as well.
If you haven’t already guessed, I’ve recently moved . . . again.
We’ve been in our new house for a short time, and in the middle of all the craziness, I noticed that ants began appearing. My immediate reaction was the obvious one, right?
- Look for an insecticide.
- Eliminate them!
I'm not a fan of any kind of insect (that's another topic entirely), so yesterday, when I saw another ant while talking to my neighbor, I told her that I don't understand why they came back when I had just cleaned and figured they wouldn’t return. My friend and neighbor Keila, who has lived nearby for many years, explained to me that the rainy season is coming, so the ants are storing up food. Immediately, this verse came to my mind:
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest. (Prov. 6:6–8)
Of course, it all makes sense now—the ants are preparing for the upcoming season! I pondered that for several days as I continued to fight with the ants, and each time, God brought that illustration to my heart. It led me to ask myself, Am I "preparing for summer"? Am I "seeking my sustenance," (which comes from God’s Word) as I should be?
His Word, My Nourishment
Just as ants watch and prepare for bad weather, we should be diligent, not only in looking for "food," but in knowing where to look for it. We are in the midst of a generation shaped by social networks, by influencers. We want everything fast. We are satisfied by consuming what “so and so” said, and we believe that because they said it, so it is. We are motivated by “likes” and how many times our post was "shared," but we should be more like the believers in Berea: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all readiness of mind, searching the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).
To be clear, I am not against social networks, but they should not be our source of nourishment. On the contrary, our source of nourishment should be the Word of God so that we can have the discernment we need. (See James 1.) We need wisdom to know and accurately handle the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15) because it is the only way to have a good foundation and stand firm on the rock which is Christ.
A Strong Foundation
My new house has a very nice backyard, so I immediately started making plans for it, helped by friends who sent me inspiration pictures. That is, until my husband, who is a civil engineer, noticed something that I didn't even stop to look at: the patio floor is sinking in one area. After examining it, he came to the conclusion that there is a problem with the patio foundation which, if not corrected, may affect the entire structure. After that news, my patio decorating plans were postponed until a "complete overhaul of the footing" is done, for which the entire floor has to be removed so we can analyze what is underneath.
This leads to more unsettling news: we might find more problems underneath.
As I look at my patio, I’m reminded that something can look very nice on the surface—it can even look "robust”—but someone who is knowledgeable will spot the problems underneath. In this case, my husband, as an engineer and expert in standards and structural matters, was able to see a problem with the foundation that I, knowing nothing about engineering, didn't even notice. If we do not know and accurately handle the Word of God, we will be easily deceived and carried away by every wind of doctrine that comes our way. Or worse, we will be carried away by the culture that seeks to attack and destroy all that God tells us in His Word.
Swimming Upstream
Even though I am allergic to seafood (yes, I know, I am the weirdest Caribbean woman), the fish that catches my attention the most is the salmon. Did you know that it swims backwards? Or to put it correctly, it "swims against the current." I started to research the reason why and I found this: they swim upstream to return to the place where they were born, “so they can also leave their eggs in safer places, with greater protection from predators." Our reality is the same: as Christian women, we must protect our homes from predators, we must live against the current, we must not allow ourselves to be enveloped by the culture and its standards.
The battle is not easy, but how good it is to know that the battle is the Lord's. We are not alone. We can be confident that our God is the one who fights for us, but as part of His army, we have to be prepared. The only way to create a firm foundation that will not move, will not break, and will not fall is to make the Word of God our nourishment, that we may be like the ant, prepared for what is to come!
May we be encouraged to pray to the Lord for a deeper love of His Word! May we understand the importance of having a good foundation, and may that foundation be the Word of our Lord.
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