The fame of Solomon's wisdom was known all over the world. In a distant land was a queen who decided to test his wisdom. She wanted to prove that he wasn't wise. She thought of a way to demonstrate that her wisdom was superior to his. The story goes that she had skillful artists in her kingdom make many beautiful flowers out of wax. They were so good at their craft that when they finished, it was almost impossible to tell the real flowers from the artificial. When the artists were finished with the wax-like flowers, the queen placed them in vases. The queen came to Solomon with vases of real flowers and those that were artificial. She said to Solomon: "If you are wise as people say you are, you will be able to tell me which of the vases hold the real flowers and which are the artificial wax flowers." The queen presented to Solomon the rules:

Solomon must not touch or handle the flowers.
He must not smell the flowers.
He must stand ten yards away from the flowers.

Solomon agreed to the rules and everything was arranged. What if he failed? If he failed, people would not think very highly of his wisdom. Everything was set. All the vases were arranged. Solomon entered the room with a smile on his face looking very confident. Then he turned to one of his attendants and whispered, "Bring in the bees!" The attendant ran out and came back carrying a hive of honeybees. Then, he opened the hive and let the bees out. He watched as the bees flew toward the flowers. He saw which flowers the bees landed on, and he knew which flowers were real. The bees knew where the nectar was. Our God is incredible! He made the universe in all its vastness, and He made the little bee. The bee is one of the most marvelous and fascinating of all of God's creations. When we learn some things about the ways and habits of the bees, we can also discover some truths that we should live by. Let's learn something about the bees.


THE WORKER BEES The first thing that we notice about the worker bees is their busy-ness. A single bee visits two or three hundred flowers in one hour to gather enough nectar to make honey. When we look into the hive of the bees, we discover that bees are responsible for many tasks.

There are the "mason bees" who make the wax for the comb
and fasten it to the hive
Then there are the "sculptor" bees who follow the masons
and chisel and mold the wax into the right shape.
The "environmental" bees look after the air in the hive.
In hot weather the hive gets too warm so these bees position themselves near the opening and turn on their fans
by flapping their wings to make a breeze.
There are "attendant" bees whose have the responsibility
to follow the queen around and attend to her needs.
Then there are the "nurse" bees.
They are to look after the young bees and feed them
The "sentinel" bees guard the door of the hive night and day
and guard against enemies and intruders.

Jesus came to show us that those who please God are the worker bees. They care for others. They would rather serve than be served.
They love to help others. When a need arises, they can be counted on.
They want to make others happy.

THEIR CLEANLINESS The honeybees keep a spotless house. While the masons are making the wax, and the sculptors are molding it, the "cleaning" bees sweep the floor and turn out anything that shouldn't be there, such as sand or bits of dead leaves. Sometimes, in spite of the vigilance of the sentry bees, a snail or an insect will get into the hive. They sting the enemy to death, and if they can't get it out of the hive, they seal it with a substance so that it will not pollute the hive.


THE UNSELFISHNESS OF THE BEE The bees work for the good of the hive. They are very unselfish. A small amount of honey is enough for their food. The rest goes to feed the queen, the grubs, and the drones, or it is made into honey to be stored up for the next winter. In the summer two-thirds of the old bees leave to make room for the younger generation. They leave behind them a beautiful city of wax filled with treasures of honey and pollen. They go out to face poverty, for they have nothing until they build themselves a new city and fill it with food. The bees will willingly die to save the queen's life. They keep the best food for her, and should food become scarce, they will give up their last drop of honey for her. If there should be an invasion, the queen will be found alive under the bodies of her dead subjects who have protected her with their lives.


THE DRONES They are lazy, untidy, greedy, and selfish. They do not like to work, and they hinder others who want to work. Do you know any Christians like that? The drone eats more than a worker bee. It takes five or six worker bees to provide him enough food. He looks out for the corners in the hive and eats honey. In the hottest days of the summer, he will go out for a flight. But he doesn't go out to gather pollen or do anything that resembles work. Oh no, he goes out to lay on a flower and sun himself. Then when the day grows cooler, he goes back into the hive for a snooze. The wise little worker bees know that they have no food to spare to keep useless bees alive during the winter. So, one day a signal goes out. The sentry bees and the worker bees decide that they will not tolerate these loafers any longer! They either fall on them and stab them to death, or they turn them out to starve.


DON'T BE A DRONE!
There are Christians who act like drones.
They are lazy, untidy, greedy, and selfish. They want to be seen.
They want the biggest piece of the cake or the biggest slice of the pie.
They want to be recognized. They make other people uncomfortable.
They push and shove others aside to get to the head of the line.


THANKFULNESS
After Jesus had risen from the tomb, He met his disciples on the lake shore and asked them if they had anything to eat. They gave him some cooked fish and a
piece of honeycomb! I believe that Jesus would have said,
"Thank you, Father, for food so sweet!"