Proverbs 30:24

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 now listed four very small things, and he pointed out that much wisdom can 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 impressed by size, beauty, sound, and 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.

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 to see that His whole creation declares His glory? Do you get as much pleasure from the hummingbird as the elephant?

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 (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, these rules have been observed by most enlightened men since the creation of the world. It does not matter what hippies or designers say; the rule is as true as gravity. Long hair on a man is the same as a man wearing a laced nightgown!

Paul also appealed to the universal condemnation of sodomy inherent in human nature (Rom 1:26-27). God’s word plainly condemns this abomination, but so does nature. Most men have despised it since creation. Modest understanding of anatomy, biology, hygiene, health, character, sexual attraction, and human society create disgust of this perversion. America’s fifty states all had plain laws against sodomy, and only with great effort have they been repealed in some states. Several states still have 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), secure defense (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).