Those Amazing Ants

Matthew 6:25
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

How many ants are there in the world? No one has actually counted them all or asked them to fill out little ant census forms. However, scientists have estimated that there are about 10 million billion ants in the world, waiting for you to have a picnic. That’s more ants than there are mammals, reptiles, birds and amphibians combined.

God made so many ants because ants are important housekeepers for the earth. Ants, not earthworms, turn most of the world’s soil, drain it and enrich it. Ants dispose of 90 percent of the corpses of small dead animals. As the world’s gardeners, ants spread and plant more seeds than any other creature.

Like bees, ants have a sophisticated society, which includes workers, nurses, soldiers, hunters, farmers and even builders. Each of these different classes has specialized organs for their work. The soldier ants of one species are walking bombs. They are loaded with poison and literally explode when under attack, spraying poison on their enemies. Army ants in Central and South America march across the countryside in a line that can be nearly 50 feet long. The solid column sweeps along, flushing out even small animals, as it looks for food.

The huge variety of living things around us represents more than simply variety. That variety carefully includes creatures to do every job that needs to be done to maintain life on Earth. This in itself is a witness to both the creativity and wisdom of the Creator.

Prayer:
Lord, I thank You for the way You have taken care of the needs of the Earth. If it had been up to us, we would have forgotten some needs and not known about others. So I place my past, present and future in Your loving hands. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Wilson, Edward O. 1990. “Stalking the mighty ant.” Discover, March.