Tommy and Sarah were playing together in the backyard of their new home. Their family had recently moved to a southern state, and they were not used to everything found in that warmer climate. Mother had said, “Don’t go near that little pile of sand over there because there are fire ants in it, and they bite!”
After Mother went back into the house, Tommy and Sarah went over to the anthill. They stood watching the little ants with great interest. “Let’s get a stick and poke it into the pile,” said Tommy. So they each found a stick and began to poke around in the pile of sand. This stirred up those busy little ants.
The Bible tells us that “it is an honor...to cease from strife [stay out of trouble]: but every fool will be meddling” (Proverbs 20:33It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. (Proverbs 20:3)). Meddling means to start a quarrel or to step into something that is none of your business. Tommy and Sarah were meddling with that anthill when they were told not to. Not only did they disobey their mother, but also they were very unwise to meddle with fire ants.
Almost immediately hundreds of biting, reddish-brown ants swarmed up the sticks and on to Tommy’s and Sarah’s hands and arms, and more crawled up their legs.
Suddenly Mother heard screams from the backyard. She came rushing out of the house to find biting fire ants all over Tommy and Sarah. She quickly rushed the two children into their wading pool. As she tried to wash the ants off the children, they crawled onto her arms and bit her too. When she finally got the ants off the children and herself, all three of them were covered with hundreds of tiny, red, stinging bites!
How sorry the children were for not listening to their mother. They had learned a lesson the hard way. “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:2323But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)). They could have saved themselves and their mother a lot of pain and unhappiness if they had only remembered the Bible verse they had learned in Sunday school: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right” (Ephesians 6:11Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1)).
We certainly hope Tommy and Sarah’s painful lesson will keep them far away from the ants. But even some of us who are older ignore lessons and warnings, and there are usually sad results. Those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, young or old, can turn to Him for help when we are tempted to sin. We have the promise, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:11<<To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.>> God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)).
ML-08/05/2012