Intro

A few weeks back I was listening to a program about religion on BBC radio.  One of the participants was explaining that he became an atheist following the events of September 11, convinced that God could not exist if tragedies like that were allowed to happen.  I was suddenly reminded of this yesterday when I happened across a young boy with his mother picking out an ant farm.  I’ll admit this seems like an odd connection at first, but have you ever observed an ant farm?  The ants are busy, busy, busy.  They tunnel, they build, they form relationships, and vie for power.  To the ants the farm is the entire universe; however, as observers we know that the farm is just a box, in a building, in one city, that is part of a much larger dimension.

Scripture

Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us:

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 adds:

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Commentary

Sometimes I think we, like the ants, get stuck in our frame of reference.  Many scriptures tell us of God’s omniscience, His plan for the world, and our eternal natures.  Both Christ (Matthew 6:19-20) and the Apostle Paul (Colossians 3:1-4) admonished us to fix our mind on heavenly things, and to avoid earthly entanglements.  It can be hard to process tragedies caused by the evil in this world, but we need to remain steadfast in our faith.  Physical death is merely a change of venue, an escape from the ant farm into the broader reality of eternity.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, please share.

Be blessed.

K