Modern Psalms: Make Me like the Sparrow and the Ant

“Go to the ant, O lazy one; Observe her ways and be wise, which having no chief, overseer or ruler, she prepares her food in the summer and brings in her provisions [of food for the winter] in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O lazy one? When will you arise from your sleep [and learn self-discipline]?” (Proverbs 6:6-9, AMP)

Dear Lord,

Thank you for your Word. Thank you that you have given us so much of yourself in it. You are a God that doesn’t need to be guessed at or convinced to reveal yourself. We can turn to you at any time and you meet us. We can cast our worries on you and you are good and diligent to hold them all. 

And in these times, there may be many anxieties that we stumble into day to day. The issues our country is facing both globally and locally. The news headlines that seem to get bleaker and bleaker. The people we know that are steeling themselves for some very hard times ahead. You have to wonder how people get through the uncertainty and fear when they don’t have an almighty God to run to and hide in. 

You are our Defender. There is no Rock like you. There is no one that is above you or more worthy of the praise we have to give. There may be times of persecution or struggle ahead, but we can lean on You. You are there for us, interceding for us, providing for us, and protecting us.

We thank you for passages of scripture that we can lean on in times of worry. Scripture like Matthew 6, where Jesus talks about feeding the sparrow, clothing the flowers of the field, and that you will take care of your children all the more. We thank you that you speak through your creation and that we can be reminded that we are included in your provision for it. Forgive us for the times we forget your generosity towards us or and when we take it for granted.

And help us to not allow that wonderful promise give us an excuse to sit idly by for a blessing. While we are greater to you than a sparrow or a lily, and you will go to great lengths to take care of us, help us to not forget that we also need to be moved to action. We need to be hard-working and industrious, like the ant, because you can use our labor as the means by which you provide for us. 

You gave us the job that puts a dollar in our bank account, and you also supremely make that dollar work to cover our needs. Help us to find hard work that not only gives us something to do other than stress over the brokenness of our world, but also tasks that reap harvests for our families. Give us endurance to not put off that work or procrastinate it. Help us to do it now, so when scarcity or hardship hits, our stores are full. 

Give us wisdom to know what to do and how to move. Guide us with your loving hand. Teach us to be enterprising and prudent. Help us to be trustworthy, like the ant, not needing to be supervised in order to do what you need us to do. Give us the energy and the willpower to depend on you and then do the next right thing. 

We pray that laziness would not be found in us. We pray that you would create in us the desire to be a people that delight in working hard in your name and for your glory, both physically and spiritually.

Help us to not only save and store up your provision, but also to accumulate and memorize your Word, so that we can lean on it when we need it. Give us a routine where we can meditate on it and bind it to our hearts– walking in it and living by it. 

Wake us up, Lord. Help us not to be lulled to sleep by our complacency or our worry. Help us to not look to the right or left– to not be distracted from your glory. We want to keep our eyes directly on you and to be reminded of the reverence we need to have for you moment by moment. 

Strengthen us to turn off the noise today; powering off our phones, turning off the TV, and disconnecting from social media. Give us time to be alone with you and wake us up so we don’t miss it. Stir us up spiritually and give us a job to do with our hands. We want to serve you and to diligently steward what you have given to us. 

We turn to you, Lord. We don’t know what you’re doing with the world today– with this war, with our government, and with everything that can seem so far out of our control. But we trust that you are still on your throne. Your will is still being done. So all we ask is that you continue to shelter us under your mighty hand and give us a job to do in our little corners of the world. Help us to be eager for that work, doing it to the utmost of our ability, knowing that we do it unto our Lord and God.

In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen