Blog by Anne-Marie Dane
Proverbs 30:25 the ants – they are not strong; but they already stock up in the summer.
Summer is just around the corner. For some, the holidays may have already started. Others are putting the finishing touches to the end of the season and are already making preparations for the new season.
What are you going to do this summer? Are you going to rest? And what does that look like for you? Or do you already have all kinds of plans for next year that you want to work out and prepare? Did you have a good year and will you look back with gratitude? Or was it a year to quickly forget and are you looking for ways to… forget?
In Proverbs 30, 4 types of animals are mentioned that are called ‘the least’, but also ‘the wisest’. The ants are mentioned first. They are not strong, but they build up a supply in the summer. The Bible calls that wisdom. And according to Proverbs 6:8, they gather food in the summer and stock up at harvest time. Harvest time; the harvest is collected, usually in the months of July and August, our summer.
If we are wise, we use the months of July and August to bring in food to build up a supply. How?
Jeremiah gives us the golden tip in his ‘complaint’, which can be read in Jeremiah 15:16.
Whenever I heard your words, I took them as food. Your words gave me deep joy, for I belong to you, O Lord God Almighty.
We can take in God’s words as food. That is good for our hearts and bodies, the Bible says. In Proverbs 4:20-23 we read:
20 My son, pay attention to my words, and obey my declarations.
21 Keep them always before your eyes, keep them in the depths of your heart.
22 They are life for those who accept them, strengthening the whole body like medicine.
23 Of all that you guard, especially guard your heart, it is the source of your life.
Here you can read that it should not stop at ‘paying attention to God’s words’. The call is to heed his statements. That means that we follow his words, respect them, obey them.
Perhaps this summer is a good time to take in God’s words as food to build up a supply for the next season, but also to think about how you can follow His words. What can you really do in the next season to put His words into practice? Do your priorities need to change? Does your agenda need to be organized differently? Do you need other contacts for this? Could your vision be sharpened?
Interesting questions, which may yield difficult answers. Maybe you need to dig a little deeper into your heart, thoughts, emotions, dreams and experiences. And here too, God’s Word can be helpful to you. Heb. 4:12 teaches us:
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the touch of soul and spirit, and bone and marrow, and is able to divide the conceptions and thoughts of the heart.
Take time regularly to let God’s Word separate what needs to be separated. So that it becomes visible what the next season needs, what you need and what the church of Jesus needs to flourish. And to stock up. There is great wisdom in that!