The ant-lion is a dark-looking creature that makes a hole in the sand, puts itself in the very center and buries itself completely out of sight, except its horn which appears like a rusty needle sticking up in the sand.
One who observed the ant lion’s habits wrote: “A little red ant came along seeking her food in her usual busy way. So she climbed up on the rim of the sandy cup and peeped over to investigate. Presently, suspecting danger, she turned to scramble off. Alas! it was too late; the sand rolled from under her feet, and down she went to the bottom, when in an instant that little black horn opened like a pair of shears, and “clip!” the poor ant had lost a leg. And now the poor thing struggles to climb up, but one leg gone, she finds it hard work.
“The little monster does not move or show himself. He knows what he is about. The ant has almost got to the top and liberty, but the sand slips, and down she goes. ‘Clip!’ go the shears, and another leg is gone. She struggles hard to rise, but she gets up but a little way before she slips again, and a third leg is off. She now gives up the struggle, and the lion devours her in a few minutes. Then with a flip of his tail he throws the skin of the ant entirely out of the cup, and the trap is now set for another victim.
The same process is gone through with flies and other insects. No ant-lion was in sight, but the destroyer was there. The dead were pushed out of sight.
Doesn’t the ant-lion remind us of Satan, the enemy of our souls?
How many souls have perished in his trap! The Lord Jesus is the only One who can save us from Satan’s power. He came from heaven “that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:88He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8). He became Man “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Heb. 2: 14,15.
Do you know His delivering power, dear reader? God grant that you might have faith to trust Christ as your Saviour.
ML 04/16/1967