©1996, C. Jeff Richardson

Usually when we want models, we set before us men and women of God who have blazed a path of glory - the heroes of the faith who have touched their times and influenced the course of history. But Agur, a little-known figure in the OT and the source of the Proverbs just read, takes a different approach.

Unlike most, Agur "models down". He chooses four creatures that aren't only small, but are uncommonly ugly! Count, if you will, the number of folks who own pet ants, or a pet coney. Or, worse yet, the number of people with pet locusts or lizards.

Yet Agur turns these unsightly, small creatures into great examples of wisdom -wisdom for we "big people".

1. What Ants Know About Time.

   1. Agur says that the ant has little strength - yet it stores up food for the winter in the summer.
      1. He works today to prepare for tomorrow.
      2. Putting it another way, the ant knows what time in life it is.
      3. Don't discount that, a lot of people don't know this!
         1. Some live in the past - the ones who drag you to their house to watch hours of home movies; the ones who have to have a camera with them on even the smallest trips. They're the ones who go through life looking in the rear view mirror. Always talking about "the good ole' days".
         2. Some live only in the present - their favorite bible verse is "Now is the appointed time." Now is the day to enjoy yourself.
         3. Some live only for the future - they love to sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and "Farther Along" - they constantly talk about what great things they'll accomplish tomorrow.
      4. The ant, by contrast, knows what time it is.
         1. It has developed an instinct to prepare itself in the present.
         2. It works in the summer to prepare for the winter.
   2. One way we prepare has to do with the study of God's word.
      1. Agur reminds us of this earlier in Proverbs 30:5-6.
         1. He speaks of the Word as one that cannot be changed.
         2. In fact, if you attack the Word, it, in turn will attack you.
      2. Through out the Book of Proverbs, the teachers and writers urge us to know the Word:
         1. To study it.
         2. To memorize it.
         3. To meditate on it.
      3. We do so because it will guide, guard and protect us in the days to come.
      4. Like the ant, we must take advantage of the "summer" to prepare for the "winter".
         1. While one person's winter may be much harder than another's, one thing is certain: for all, sometime, winter will come.
      5. Like the ant, we must work hardest when things are pleasant.
         1. Who's the busiest guest at a picnic?
         2. Our bible teachers often do us a disservice when they tell us bible study is easy - it is hard work!
         3. Studying the bible is often seen as a shot of adrenalin - just what you need to pep you up and give you a bolt of energy.
         4. But in reality, studying the bible is like taking vitamins -when you take it, you feel no sudden surge of energy through your body, but when disease attacks your body (that's what sin is), your defenses are strong and can withstand the attack.
         5. Jesus spent forty days and nights fasting, praying and meditating on God's Word before he faced Satan's temptations.
      6. Devoting ourselves to God's Word will help us prepare for winter.
   
   

2. What Coneys Teach Us About Security.

   1. Agur tells us to learn something from the coney - they live in the crags of the rocks.
      1. These are rock badgers, a little larger than our prairie dog, and are grayish in color - they blend perfectly in rocky terrain.
      2. As long as the coney stays on the rocks, he is hard to find.
      3. He is also well equipped to find the small holes in rocks to hide himself in.
      4. If a vulture or eagle attempts to grab a coney on the rocks, he'd better be prepared to take down a mountain.
   2. But coneys know where their security is.
      1. It doesn't matter how brave or tough a coney may be - if he ventures far from his rocky home, he is easy prey even for the smallest wolf or slowest lion.
      2. Many of those listening to Agur would have immediately applied this truth about security to God.
         1. But note that it is not enough to know about security.
         2. Imagine, if you can, a large convention of coneys meeting to discuss the different aspects of the great security of their Rocks - on the open prairie.
         3. They may discuss and argue passionately about the knowledge of security - but they've left themselves open for attack -because just knowing about the security isn't enough - they must use it.
   3. But we learn two vital things from the coney.
      1. They do not waste time, as we just imagined, arguing over their place of security - because they realize how weak they are - and they know they cannot afford to argue over security - they can only afford to hide themselves in it.
      2. They know that their strength doesn't lie in their fighting abilities or in their swift feet, but it lies in their Rocky Home.
      3. We people are sometimes slow to realize the things these little animals take for granted.
         1. We, having found our Rock, begin to be distracted by philosophy and theology - and good old-fashioned argument, and we forget how utterly helpless we are when we move away from our Rock.
         2. Those who have never known our God don't know where real security is.
   
   

3. What the Locust Tells Us.

   1. A locust - or grasshopper, by itself is harmless; ineffectual.
      1. But when grasshoppers band together, they can do all kinds of damage.
      2. When I hear the word "locust", I immediately think if "plague".
         1. What that locust couldn't do alone, it can do with the help of others.
         2. The plague of locusts in Egypt is a prime example.
         3. But even in turn-of-the-century America - in Kansas,Iowa and Nebraska, locusts did over $500 million in damage.
   2. But locusts have no king to get them organized.
      1. This is a theme throughout the bible.
      2. The OT speaks of the "covenant people" of God.
      3. The NT speaks of the church.
      4. You cannot be an effective Christian alone.
      5. A man visits an asylum for the criminally insane. He is surprised to find that only three guards maintained the facility for over 100 inmates. "Aren't you afraid they'll overpower you?" He asked. "No, lunatics never unite." The guard responded.
      6. Unite. To be effective, locusts do it. Christians should.
   3. Paul, with all his accomplishments, can never say he did it alone.
      1. See the list in Romans 16.
      2. Look at his dying wish in 1Tim 4:10-11.
   4. Without a community, you won't be effective in what you do and you won't be able to protect yourself.
   
   

4. What We Can Learn From Lizards

   1. Of the four creatures Agur describes, the last is the hardest to understand.
   2. It can be caught in the hand - and yet is found in the palace of a king.
      1. You can hold it in your palm - though you probably wouldn't want to.
      2. It is small and ugly - but it's still in the presence of kings.
      3. Perhaps here Agur makes a reference to God's grace to us.
   3. When you read the bible, you always see that the priorities are exactly the opposite of those found in the world.
      1. My wife recently bought one of those exercycles.
         1. Not being particularly mechanically minded, I fought with one of the pedals for ten minutes trying to screw it into place.
         2. Finally, in desperation, I read the instruction manual.
         3. As it turns out, it was a "left-handed" thread - now I'm left-handed and I'm always glad to see people making an effort to produce things for us southpaws, but why would they reverse the one mechanical rule I know?
      2. But God reverses almost everything we see in world.
         1. The last shall be first.
         2. The servant shall be king.
         3. The poor will be made rich and the rich will be made poor.
      3. God chooses not the rich, the beautiful, or the successful, rather, he chooses the poor, the ugly, the failing, and the small.
         1. Read 1Cor 1:26b-29.
   4. Remember, while some may seem small and ugly, as C.S. Lewis said, there are no ordinary Christians.
      1. All of us will be made like Jesus one day.
      2. He died for even the smallest and ugliest.

Four creatures on earth, then, are very small. But if you sit at their feet - if you can find their feet - you can learn some big lessons. You can become wise.