God often surprises me with something I never thought of. Many Christians have read their Bibles many times over. And surprisingly God has always something new everytime we open up our Bibles. And tonight is just one of those moments.
I was reading from Proverbs 30, about the 4 animals that are described as small and yet they’re exceedingly wise. Here the reading:
the ants are a people not strong,
yet they provide their food in the summer;
the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
the locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in rank;
The questions that came to me were something like,”so how does it look like for the ants?” They’re not strong like lions or tigers who could hunt their preys when they’re hungry. Therefore they took long time and long plannings to get their food. They’re not in the business of fast return? They foresee to the future needs and busy spending their time preparing. These are “not strong” (whatever strength physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc) people. Therefore they prepared long in advance to make up for their “weakness” or “smallness”. These are wise people. They’re not strong, but they’re definitely wise. They get their food just as the strong. They survive by their wisdom. But they plan far ahead.
How about the rock badgers? They’re not powerful, and they can’t defend themselves. They’re weak. In the face of enemy, they could be destroyed easily. How they survive? How they protect themselves if they’re weak? Not a fairy tale, but here is the reality. Wisdom in practice. They do the unthinkable. They chose the dangerous place as their homes. Their safety comes from their uncanny wits. If their enemies want to attack them, they must go through much danger. And it’s the same thing for them. It’s dangerous both ways, and they made the wise decision. These are people who knows their weakness, and took the risk. They too are willing to work hard, facing dangers, because they know that they’re weak. They work together for their good. They’re willing to be put in difficult position, not many were willing. They face hardship and challenges, even dangers. Knowing that you’re weak could be the first step for a wise solution.
And the last one is not less impressive. In fact the amazing wisdom God gave to this group of animal is as extraordinary as the previous twos. Locusts which have no leader, and yet everyone marc in rank. How unbelievable is that? I’ve never seen such behavior among mankind. What I am familiar is no leader = chaos / anarchy. No traffic light and all jams. What it will look like in human’s world would be unbelievable. There’s no traffic light and the traffic go smoothly. Every car knows their turns. Every person knows what to do. There’s no commando who shouts order to the soldiers. Totally unbelievable. And yet, this locust behaves every single one of them, knows their exact turns and ranks. It will require super wisdom. To understand the situation, the orders, when is other’s turns and when is my turn. Completely orderly and efficint, without nobody being in charge and the amount of respect to one another is of a different world.
Now, my eyes look up to God. For this wisdom that God gave to small animals are unknown among mankind. God’s people could be small. We could be weak. Often we’re defenseless. And sometimes we have no leaders. But if Holy Spirit guides us, we need not be afraid. The same God who gives wisdom to little animals, will be more than able to give the same super wisdom to His children. So that no matter how small and weak and defenseless or leaderless, we might display the wisdom of God.
Praise God for that wisdom is made available to us.