Our Blaming Nature
In a blame-casting culture and generation, we must stop and take a time out. We don’t blame anyone because wisdom’s here. We may not want to seek it out and we may resist it, but the body of wisdom is available to the naive and the simple. Adam and Eve blamed each other and God. After that, blame-casting was never eradicated from the family of God. And all people who are descended from Adam and his wife Eve are inheritors of the art of blaming. In fact, we’ve not progressed. If evolution is a process of getting better, we have gotten worse.
Four Things Are Small But Exceedingly Wise
Proverbs 30:24-28 says, “Four things are small on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: The ants are not a strong people, But they prepare their food in the summer; The rock hyraxes are not a mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks; The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks; The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.” These are very common things. But albeit very briefly, each of these terms would be known around the Middle East.
Proverbs is telling us to look at the little things. Now the counterbalance is in what they accomplish. They have provision, protection, strength in numbers, and they are unhindered in their access. The ant prepares their food. They stockpile. Rocks are the houses, the protection of the high racks. They are very vulnerable.
The locust goes out with strength in numbers. One locust is easy to deal with, but not a swarm. And the Old Testament speaks to the locust coming in and devastating the crops. You can’t deal when they come in rank.
In the king’s palaces, the lizard has unhindered access. You can’t stop a lizard from doing what he or she does. These four things are small, but they have the wisdom to survive and thrive with safety and security.
God’s Wisdom to Humanity
It may be a bit of a stretch, but we have mentors from God’s wisdom to humanity. We have men and women who are more mature. They fought the good fight, and we are on their shoulders because of what they gave us. We lean upon their statements of faith and their belief in scripture.
These creatures had none of that. The coney learns quickly that the rocks protect them. The idea of them in the rocks is also used for hiding out in the Old Testament. There is an homage to the rock of Christ in whom we hide.
The son who traffics with evil in the pathway of unrighteousness will not live in a palace. But the son who follows wisdom, godliness, and righteousness dwells in the palace. Believers have such a worldly view of life in general.
We want Heaven to be like this life but perfect. Nothing else will matter when you see your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We will be so overwhelmed by the person of Jesus Christ. He loved us, paid for our sins, died in our place, and welcomed us into a physical eternal kingdom and a relationship with Him. We can enjoy the things of this life, but we should never compare it to Heaven. To personify Heaven as an earthly experience minimizes what Jesus Christ has done.
Colossians 3:1 reminds us to seek the things above, where Christ is, not the things of this world. That’s hard for us as earthbound people. This is why we go back to the word again and again.
Lessons From Proverbs
Take time to train your kids in the Word of God alongside God’s world. Understand the word, but look at God’s world. That’s what we’ve done in this passage. What do your kids or grandkids see in you that they will copy?
If Little Things Are Wise, What is Our Excuse?
We’ve been blaming our parents from day one. Adam and Eve gave us a legacy. But, if there’s anything to show that evolution is a fraud, it’s that we’ve gotten better at sin. If the omniscient God of the universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all, made a bug, mammal, locust, and lizard hardwired with wisdom, how are we any better? How much more since we’re made in His image?
When we succumb to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life, we must remember that we’ve been made in the image of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
We have God’s word, God’s spirit, and God’s people. Are we growing in wisdom? We have the capacity. Wisdom shouts at us. It says, “Come over here. Don’t go down that road. Don’t think your gender is some other definition that the world’s telling you. Lying and cheating is not the right path. Don’t think disrespecting and yelling at your teachers in authority is gonna make you a better person.” Wisdom is better than strength.
1 Timothy 4:8 says, “For bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” So pay attention to the little things in life. Literally and metaphorically, put your head in your hands and your elbows on the ground with your kids and grandkids. Look at the ants and talk about how God made them. You don’t have to be a theologian to find wisdom.
Links Mentioned:
Catch up on the rest of the Proverbs series here.
Find all Proverbs resources here.