Nancy Bauer, Washington
Even an Ant Knows the Right Choice
God gave us freedom...Freedom
to choose right from wrong. God gave us this choice from the time of creation
to the present day. Some just can't figure out HOW to use freedom if choice...some force the
issue...some think they know more than God... Here's a simple story
to explain...
"The
This is the true Bible story of the "
named Amos. It's told from an ant's point of view... IF an
ant could have told the story.
Once, long, LONG ago, Amos ant was
helping his ant colony build their
winter ant hill. This was something that God had given them the
"instinct" to do. They just KNEW what twig went where and what each
ant's job was. They didn't need to talk to each other about how or what to
do...they just KNEW. AND they didn't have a choice!
As Amos was bringing a rather large twig to
"just-the-right" spot on the ant hill, he noticed many humans mixing
mud and making bricks...HUGE bricks...huge BLOCKS!
These humans all spoke the same words, the same language. They all
understood each other.
Amos heard these men speak to each other in a way that shocked
him. "Nah..we don't
need God to get to heaven! We'll get there by ourselves! We're just as great as
God...maybe greater! When we get this tower built clear to heaven...then ALL
will know we ARE greater than God!" So, day after day, as Amos and
his colony continued to build their ant hill, the humans continued to build
their tower to heaven.
After many months, Amos said to himself, " THERE!
The last twig! The ant hill is just the right size for all of
the colony. We built it together, and now we know it's time to stop.
Thank You God for helping us to know how to build our ant hill!" Hurrying
out to find food for the winter, Amos notices that the human's tower was half
finished. The men were directing each other on where to put those huge blocks
to make it taller. "To the right
As Amos watched, all the men
started yelling at each other....IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! No one understood what the
other man was saying! Confused and all mixed up, they were babbling! They were
babbling AND trying to build a tower..."The Tower of
BABEL!"
God had stepped in to STOP
THEIR WRONG CHOICES! To stop them from trying to be greater than He was...an
impossible task, and one that would doom them forever.
The huge blocks started to be put in the wrong places... no one
could understand the directions... no one knew where to put the blocks. They
were confused...they didn't have Amos' build in "instinct" from
God...
At this point, Amos was GLAD
HE didn't have choices to make. He was THANKFUL that God gave him
"instinct' and not choices of right and wrong!
"See Amos!" Amos heard God say.
"They thought they were greater than ME! They thought they could get to
heaven without ME! But they can only get there by making the right
choices...choosing to get to heaven THROUGH ME! I had to confuse them...to let
them now they aren't God, to take away their pride...and to show them they need
to make the right
choice!"
"I gave them different languages. Now they KNOW there is only one God...one CHOICE...ME!"
"WE know that!" Amos
thought. "We knew we can only do what you let us do...and NO MORE! No one
is greater than out Creator...God!"
And so, the "
And so that is how and why
God gave us different languages. To let us know He is God and that WE can NEVER
be God! We have to make the CHOICE to KNOW that God is the one and ONLY
God! "How do humans get to heaven?" Amos asks. "Not
by a tower, that's for sure! Even we ants know that! ONLY with RIGHT choices
and THROUGH GOD! There's no other way!"
So, Amos had it right! Only THROUGH GOD,
by RIGHT CHOICES, can we get to heaven...FREEDOM TO CHOOSE!
