𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞:
You can learn much from little things God created on earth. The prophet Agur continued teaching wisdom to his prize students through observations of things in nature. He listed four very small things, and he pointed out that much wisdom could be learned from each of these small creatures. Be attentive, dear reader, and you can learn wisdom.
Men consider these four creatures – ants, rabbits, locusts, and spiders – insignificant, stupid, and beneath their respect. They spend much more time and effort trying to destroy these creatures than they do observing and learning the wisdom their Creator gave them. It is quite humbling for man to find wisdom in these creatures that he has not consistently acquired himself. Ah, dear reader, God is also teaching you a general lesson of humility.
The instincts of these small creatures are often superior to man’s higher world of reason and intelligence. Who is as foresightful as the ant? Secure as the cony? Cooperative as the locust? Diligent as the spider? The Creator put man in his place by their wisdom. Without God, men are fools. In the habits of these four animals is wisdom that can teach, correct, and rebuke men. But business schools still speculate on the causes of success.
How perceptive and discerning are you? Are you only impressed by size, beauty, sound, or show? Or do you look for wisdom and conduct, foresight and diligence, and other traits of much greater value than appearance? Wisdom is the principal thing, and it will serve you well to see the wisdom these small, ugly, silent, and reticent creatures have.
Yet Agur also appreciated comely and stately carriage, so he listed four other creatures that are impressive and beautiful in appearance, movement, conduct, and effect (Pr 30:29-31). It is not enough to do right and be wise, for you should also be attractive and pleasing in the way you practice both. Do you adorn godly virtue by attractive manners?
God is glorious in all His works, even the small ones. God boasted to Job of his largest creatures, leviathon and behemoth (Job 40:15; 41:11), but here you can also see His majesty in small things. Do you look close enough and think long enough to recognize that His whole creation declares His glory? Do you get as much pleasure from the hummingbird as the elephant, from the baboon as the horse, from the sloth as the eagle?
Nature contains lessons of wisdom that have been lost in this so-called enlightened world. For example, the apostle Paul appealed to the natural rules of hair length (I Cor 11:14-15). Long hair on a man is disgusting, but long hair on a woman is glorious. Ignoring the perverts of this generation, this rule has been kept by most societies in history. It does not matter what hippies or designers say; the rule is generally true. Long hair on a man is as shameful as a man wearing a laced nightgown, no matter what Caitlyn Jenner does.
Paul also appealed to universal condemnation of sodomy by most societies (Rom 1:26-27). The Bible condemns this perversion, but so does nature. Most men have always despised it. Modest grasp of anatomy, biology, hygiene, health, character, sexual attraction, and human society create disgust of it. Most nations had laws against sodomy with severe punishments, and all of America’s fifty states had laws against it. Only with great effort were they recently repealed. Several states had them into the 21st century.
The prophet Agur taught four lessons of wisdom in four proverbs, pointing out unique character traits of wisdom in four small creatures. They are the ant (25), the cony (26), the locust (27), and the spider (28). Fretting over precisely which species Agur intended with each of these creatures misses the lessons. The lessons are foresight and savings (25), risk-free security (26), cooperation in societies (27), and persistent diligence (28).
Be careful not to despise the poor and weak of this world when you meet them, for God has chosen them rich in faith and heirs of His kingdom (Jas 2:5; I Cor 1:26-29). And when you need wisdom, you should go to the God of wisdom, Who is able to endow even these small creatures with great amounts of it. Surely He can supply your need (Jas 1:5).
https://letgodbetrue.com/proverbs/index/chapter-30/proverbs-30-24/
No comments:
Post a Comment