Day 8 of Illumination: Enlightenment can come from strange sources.

“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6:6-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

OK, so I got hooked on them. I was on social media and saw these short videos with a picture of a monkey (I am using the term monkey to apply to any animals that look like a monkey to me, they may be apes, chimps, etc., but to me, they’re all monkeys). I saw the monkey and I did it; I watched that short video. Well, now I see those monkey videos popping up all over! It used to be chihuahuas; but now, it’s monkeys.

Now, as you might suspect, the aforementioned monkey video binging is not the point of today’s exhortation. But what I learned from the monkeys, is.

In one of the videos I saw a monkey, sitting with her baby who was eating a piece of fruit. Nearby, was another mother with her baby. The baby from the one monkey mother went and set in to take the piece of fruit from the other baby monkey, at which point, the mother of the one with the fruit, smacked the would-be thief. She then looked at its mother, as if to say, “You want some of this?” At this point, the mother of the would-be thief, grabbed him up and scurried off.

In another video I saw a baby monkey who fell off a wall into rapidly flowing water. At first you could see him bobbing, but quickly then disappearing under the surface. The mother monkey stretched down over the wall and reached her hand into the water and came up with the baby, just in the nick of time.

I saw another monkey with a baby and it seemed as though she did not really know how to parent. The poor baby was desperately trying to grab on to nurse and she kept pushing it off. Finally, she awkwardly picks the baby up and goes running off with the baby dragging beside her.

First of all, I was reminded that monkeys exhibit startling human qualities and reactions. They are, after all, primates. But, here is what the Spirit taught me as I reflected on those videos.

Some monkeys have what we would call “good” behavior; some monkeys exhibit what we would call “bad” behavior. Now, I know enough about conditioning using reward and punishment to know that— given time—you probably could alter the behavior of these monkeys using positive and negative reinforcement. But, what the monkeys are incapable of, is a “change of heart.” In other words, their encoded behavior will remain the same unless conditioned otherwise. But, even when they do change, the new behavior does not come as the result of a moment of transformative spiritual renewal.

In human beings, although reward and punishment conditioning can affect change, some changes—the most dramatic changes—come as a result of the inner transformation brought by the saving of the soul.

Additionally, the ongoing daily process of spiritual development (maturity) can bring further stunning behavioral change, all by a Force Who cannot be seen.

Now, how could I have gathered all of that from watching monkey videos? I gathered all of that because my spirit is open to hearing from the Lord through whatever He chooses to use.

“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you. For they all know that my disaster has come from the hand of the Lord. For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being.”

‭‭Job‬ ‭12:7-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Job, in dealing with his “comforting” friends, informs them that observance of the animals could show them that God is sovereign.

In our opening scripture we see the Proverbial writer telling the sluggard that they could learn something from how the ant operates. Nobody instructs the ant to do what it does, yet it relentlessly works and prepares for its own survival.

Now, it may not be monkeys or ants that take you further into understanding. But, if you are open before the Lord, and sensitive to the leading of His Holy Spirit, you will find that there are “teachers” all around you. You have but to LISTEN.

We light an eighth candle of illumination today by knowing this:

Enlightenment can come from strange sources.

#25daysofillumination