Proverbs 30:24-28, Little Things, Part IV

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

The next "little thing" is a bit of a mystery . . . some translations call it a hyrax, some call it a coney.

The best I can tell from studying this, is that the early English translators knew about conies, which are also called rock rabbits. They probably thought they had it correct, since the verse mentions that they make their home in the "crags" which are rocky places. Hyraxes are tiny hoofed mammals -- they have short bodies and plump heads, and they live in groups among the rocks. They are active during the day  (except for their cousins the tree hyraxes, which are nocturnal in habit) and are vegetarians in their diet. 
They are not very powerful; they are not very strong. They survive by knowing where to take refuge -- they live among the rocks and burrow into them when a predator comes looking for them. In order to get at them, you need to knock down a mountain of rocks!
You can see from the picture that the hyrax is a cute, soft, cuddly-looking animal. But what makes them so attractive, also makes them vulnerable. There's that issue of them not being powerful or strong, right?
We Christians are sometimes weakest at our strong points, too. Let's look at some examples:
You can speak well in groups. Now, that is indeed a gift, but it can be a problem, too, if your mouth gets you into trouble! Perhaps promising more than you can deliver is your Achilles heel. Or perhaps talking more than you are listening to others is your downfall.
Our best attribute can be our biggest liability.
Let's look at another example:
Do you have the gift of a wonderful memory? Super! Nice thing to have . . . except when it makes you unable to forget your shortcomings and sins -- or maybe those of someone else.
Do you have an outgoing personality? Wonderful! It's nice to be able to make others feel comfortable and valued, and to reach out to others in friendship . . . except when you get hurt easily, when someone rejects you.
Since the hyrax realizes its own weaknesses, it has an advantage. It knows instinctively that it must depend on something greater, larger than itself for safety and security. It goes to the rock!
Are we aware of our own weaknesses, as well as our strengths? What sins trouble us most often? What things get us off the path, and sidetracked from God's will? We need to depend on something greater, larger than ourselves for our safety and security . . . we need to go to the Rock!

Ps 62:6-7 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Friday Slowdown

For today's Slowdown, I hope that you receive a blessing from this song. It has meant a great deal to me in situations in my life right now.

Proverbs 30:24-28, Little things, Part III

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

I thought we should close this study of verse 25 with some facts about ants that might inspire us.

In the ant hill, and outside of the colony, too, ants work with what they've been given. They don't stand around the entrance to the mound, carping and complaining about how bad they have it. Remember Joseph, after he'd been sold into captivity by his brothers? He could have sat and moped about how badly they'd treated him. Instead, he worked with what he'd been given: he was second in command to Potiphar, to the prison supervisor, and then to Pharaoh, but each time he worked hard, was an exemplary employee, and God blessed his faithfulness. 
Ecclesiastes 9:10 tells us "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."  Accept what you've been given and roll with it! What we are doing today is our training ground for what He has in mind for us tomorrow!

Here's another thought -- ants don't wear out easily. They keep on going just like the Energizer Bunny. We must not lose heart if the going gets hard. We must keep on, for His glory. (I'm preaching to myself here.) - Paul says in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." If we stir up those gifts that God gave us, we can model the same endurance that the ants do . . . Paul also wrote: “Fan into flame the gift of God that is in you.”  We have each been given gifts that we can use in working for the kingdom; we must keep on keeping on.

It's an interesting thought, that we are reaping today what we sowed yesterday. That sure makes me want to be careful what I'm sowing, how about you? Let's work with what we've been given, and don't lose heart - keep on going!

Proverbs 30:24-28, Little things, Part II

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

Yesterday we talked a little about the ant, and today we want to continue with thoughts of preparation. How should we as Christians use our time management skills? What should we be prepared for?

One thing we should be prepared for is temptations.  If we don't prepare ourselves for temptations, we will easily fall into Satan's traps. But He has promised strength and wisdom for these situations:

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

 Another thing that we need to be prepared for is trials. We know from the Bible that we will encounter trials and persecution as we live in this world.

James 1:14 "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed."
James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Matthew 5:10-12 "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

We also must be prepared for the second coming of our Lord Jesus.

 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:25-28

1 Peter 1:13  Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

And we must be prepared to tell others about Him.

1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Wow, I think the ants have it right . . . we do need to prepare!

Proverbs 30:24-28, Little things, Part I

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

When I was small, I thought the very best Christmas and birthday presents were the huge ones. Not the medium-sized, not the large ones, but the ginormous ones. My parents would always tell me that "good things come in small packages" but I didn't think much of that adage at the time.

But we do grow up, and I think so, now. (Grin)

One 90 year old man is the beginning of an entire race of people.  Remember Abraham?
One small shepherd boy becomes the king that is a "man after God's own heart."  David, right? 
Even the church of today began as a small band of twelve disciples who followed Christ.

Our Father has a way of putting immense value in something small, and of teaching us important truths from small things, too.

The first creature in this passage is the ant -- we may not think he is very strong, since we are so much larger and can smoosh him with our shoe. But he is universally touted as very wise, because he prepares for the future, for the unknown. Remember the old cartoon short about the ant and the grasshopper? (Grin)
In other words, he plans ahead!
The ant has about 250,000 brain cells in his tiny head. That's a quarter of a million, and it sounds like a lot. 
Consider this, tho, the human brain contains about 10,000 million! A colony of 40,000 ants have about the same brain power as a human being!
But the ant does something with his little brain that we can learn from -- time management! Yep, I know, the ant doesn't call it that. In fact, he doesn't think about it much at all. He just works hard to prepare for harder seasons . . . just because it is spring or summer now, doesn't mean that winter is not coming.
We humans talk a lot about time management. But we also make some mistakes on managing one of our most precious resources: time.
We obsess about what happened yesterday.
We worry about tomorrow.
Or, we simply live for the moment, not acting wisely about the past or the future.

Why not change our attitude and adjust our thinking – and put things in place for the future?

We'll talk more about this tomorrow!

Proverbs 30:21-23 These can rock our world

²¹ For three things the earth is perturbed,
Yes, for four it cannot bear up:
²² For a servant when he reigns,
A fool when he is filled with food,
²³ A hateful woman when she is married,
And a maidservant who succeeds her mistress.

Are you ever perturbed with someone? What is perturbed? In the Hebrew, this root pictures an earthquake, a shaking of the world. And "bear up" seems to mean that we have a situation like Humpty Dumpty..... our world will get shaken up and not be able to be put back together. 
These things can rock our world.

The first one on the list is a servant who reigns: someone powerless who has become powerful. Someone who has been given more power than they can handle. We all know what happens then . . .chaos! The person unaccustomed to power suddenly has more than they can handle, and they don't handle it wisely. Bad decisions and choices are made, and they surely have consequences. One application of this would be that we need to be careful who we allow to have power over us. Make certain that we are giving obedience to the One who created us, not someone who does not have the wisdom to guide us correctly.

The next thing on our list is a fool who becomes full. What? Well, think about it for a minute. Many times the word "fool" in our studies has meant a stiff-necked, harsh bully. If someone like that becomes "full" it would usually mean full of food, satisfied with the good things on life -- in other words, wealthy. Not needing anything from anyone, and treating them pretty shabbily. (If you would like a study on the word, check out the story of Nabal in I Samuel 25. His name means what he was.) How do we treat the people who need us more than we need them? Are we harsh and mean-spirited like Nabal, or are we compassionate, following the example of our Lord?

What about the hateful woman in verse 23? I think that the writer must have been thinking about a woman who would disguise her rough edges or her real feelings, until she "hooked" her husband. Then after they were married, she didn't need to be so nice any more . . . she could let her real self show. Hmmm, how many of us treat our spouses in ways that we NEVER would have, before we were actually married? Do we speak to them in ways that we would not have spoken while we were courting or dating?

The last one on the list reminded me of Sara, Abraham's wife. The verse mentions "a maidservant who displaces her mistress." Remember what Sara did? She jumped ahead of God, trying to provide Abraham with an heir. Since she was struggling (for years) to become pregnant, she told Abraham to take her maidservant, Hagar, and Hagar did conceive and Ishmael was born. Along the way we see the relationship between the servant and mistress sorely strained -- lots of resentfulness and lots of looking down noses, too! There was strife and fighting, and even a dramatic story of being thrown out of the camp into the desert. Why did all this happen? Because Sara became impatient for God's promise to come to fulfillment.  Ouch!  I have to be honest, here, I have done that, too. Impatience is one of my problems, that is for sure. Do you share that problem? We need to rest in His promises, not be restless in them! He will deliver and be faithful -- that is His character, just as He is holy. He cannot go against that.

For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4

These four things can rock our world -- we need to be careful that we don't cause an earthquake ourselves!

Friday Slowdown

I want to thank my good friend Carolyn who first told me about this singing group -- I have enjoyed their music since then, and I wanted to share with all of you.

I hope this meditation will be a blessing to you.