Financial Wisdom From The Ants

03 Mar Financial Wisdom From The Ants

There is a very popular story in the book of Matthew, chapter 25 in the first 13 verses. The story is that of 10 virgins. Five were documented to be wise, and five reported to be foolish. Virginity talks about purity, chastity, righteousness, holiness, uprightness and those great qualities that describe someone of great character value. The question that begs for answer is, “Is it possible to be pure and foolish?” Well, the Bible already answered the question in this amazing story –“Yes!” is the resounding answer!

There are a few things to learn from this story, and it lays a preamble into why wisdom is so critical to learn.

1. First we realize that both the foolish and wise virgins slept off. This indicates that having a season of rest or recess doesn’t classify you yet as foolish or wise. It is human nature to rest, and sometimes while we are waiting for what we long for, it is natural to sometimes doze off. They were all not judged based on their inabilities to stay focused and awake till the bride groom came.
2. It was clearly stated that the bridegroom delayed in coming. While he delayed however, the oil of some finished, and some had sufficient to take care of future delays. Observe that the reason why the foolish were termed foolish was not their fault. Yes, it doesn’t have to be your fault that you are foolish. Every foolish person thinks they are justified because their excuses are genuine. There are no genuine excuses, all excuses are fake. The question is not that it was difficult, the reality is did others succeed in the same environment?
3. Wisdom in this story was the ability to have oil long after the time you expected that you would need it. In other words, wisdom here was being proactive enough to foresee the future and plan for it. Wisdom here, is the manifestation of long term thinking. Wisdom is the ability to prepare for an unseen and unexpected tomorrow.

This story demonstrates that wisdom can be the difference between heaven and hell! Wisdom is so crucial, so we must get it. The Bible however declares that if you are lazy and want to learn wisdom, then you must be schooled by the ants. All you need to do is go attend the school of the ants, and you will be wise. This is the summary of Prov 6:6.

By Charles Ezeh