Rebuilding the Hive

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7:24 (ESV)

Being a beekeeper would be at the very bottom of my choice of careers! I do not like them, never have and never will. But I do like honey! So, someone has to do the harvesting and take care of these little stinging insects. God bless them all! We can learn a great life lesson from All God’s Creatures writer, Joy Pitner, as she shares about rebuilding.

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A few months ago, we were inspecting our beehive and discovered that the bees had begun cross-combing. This means that they were joining the frames together with honeycomb, making it difficult for us to inspect the hive and monitor the health of the colony. We called a beekeeping friend of ours, and she volunteered to come and help us get the hive back in order.

With her help, we methodically began moving through the hive, pulling out one frame at a time and carefully cutting back the places where the comb had connected. About halfway through, we came across one frame where the bees had created a second layer of comb right on top of the first. It was a perfect hiding place for wax moths, beetles and other harmful pests, so we knew that the entire section had to go.

To say the bees were not happy with us is an understatement. We were cutting things out, pushing things around…and completely messing with what they had established. But it was good for them. Weeks later, we reopened the hive and found that where we had cut out the bad, they had rebuilt good comb, this time on a solid foundation. The frames were more secure, better built and healthier, with no hiding places for pests. It was hard work for the bees, and they probably felt like they had gone backward, but in the end, the hive was much stronger.

Sometimes the Lord has to do the same things with us. Carefully and methodically, He has to go through our hearts and cut out things that are harmful, force us to deal with weaknesses that leave us vulnerable to sin, and remove the places where we’ve built on a weak foundation. But then as He helps us rebuild, we are stronger.

To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. —John Ortberg

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On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

Heavenly Father, thank You for cleaning me up in the areas where I fail and fall short. AMEN. 

Photo Michael Johnston