A family went out to dinner. The waitress greeted them and offered them something to drink to start. The couple’s son blurted out, “I’ll have a cheeseburger and French fries!” His mother leaned over and unsuccessfully whispered that she would order for him and he would not be having a hamburger. When she finished her lecture, the waitress asked him, “Would you like anything else with your hamburger?” “Extra ketchup, please!” he answered. The mother looked at her son and saw his wide eyes and big smile. Then she looked at the waitress and nodded her approval. 

Let me qualify. This story does not endorse rebelling against or overruling parents. It illustrates our tendency to regard the big and strong and disregard the small and weak. This natural instinct is not biblical wisdom. Proverbs 30:24-28 affirms that big things really do come in small packages. 

Proverbs 30 was written by Agur. Verse 1 is the only place in scripture where his name occurs. We do not know anything about Agur beyond what we can surmise from the contents of this chapter, which is the most provocative chapter in Proverbs. Agur thought and wrote in lists. Our text is the sixth of seven numerical sayings in this chapter. It is also the longest of the lists. Several lists use additional numbers – two then three, three then four. Our text records four mini-parables that illustrate one point. 

Verse 24 introduces the proverb: “Four things on earth are small,” referring to the creatures in verses 25-28. There is variation in the translation of the names. The ESV calls them ants, rock badgers, locusts, and lizards. These creatures are “small” in size and strength. But Agur argues they are wise though weak. He does not suggest they would ace an I.Q. test. In Proverbs, wisdom is moral virtue, not intellectual prowess. Wisdom is about what you do more than how you think. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 

Agur says these for small things are “exceedingly wise” – wiser than the wisest. How so? These small things are easily killed. Yet they manage to survive danger. More than that, they thrive in threatening circumstances. In verses 25-28, the vulnerability is mentioned first. The conjunction “yet” interrupts each verse. Then Agur shows how the small thing overcomes. The elaborate structure teaches a simple but important lesson: It is better to be wise than strong. 

“People” in verses 25-26 depict the ants and rock badgers as nation-states. Verses 27-28 refer to “kings.” Agur challenges the reader to choose what kind of people you will be. You can follow the power of the weak or the weakness of those in power. It is better to be wise than strong. What big lessons can we learn from these small things?

The Wisdom of Planning Ahead

Verse 25 begins with the weakness of ants: “The ants are a people not strong.” What an understatement! You may unknowingly squash multiple ants under your feet while walking down the street. A colony of ants does not produce strength in numbers. Ants, by definition, are a people not strong but they are wise: “Yet they provide their food in the summer.”

Proverbs 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” Now Agur uses the ant to teach a life-lesson for all to learn. With forethought and foresight, ants provide the food in the summer. They are wise enough to plan ahead. There is a warning to heed in this proverb: Winter is coming! You may enjoy the summer of youth now. Winter is coming. The sky may be sunny and cloudless in this season of life. Winter is coming. You may have all that you need with nothing to worry about. Winter is coming. 

• The winter of chronic sickness. 
• The winter of financial reversal. 
• The winter of broken relationships. 
• The winter of personal betrayal. 
• The winter of harsh rejection. 
• The winter of consuming grief. 
• The winter of spiritual warfare. 

Ants know what time it is. They don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future. They prepare for bad times during good times. Are you as wise as the ants? Proverbs 10:5 says, “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.” The practical implicationsof this proverb are obvious. But look beyond the obvious.

Many plan ahead for their life but not their death. I’m not talking about bucket lists, estate planning, or funeral arrangements. I’m talking about Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” Each of us will give account to God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We cannot save ourselves. But God sent his Son who died for our sins and rose from the dead. If you turn from your sins and trust in Christ, you can be saved immediately, completely, and eternally. Run to the cross before winter comes and it’s too late!  

The Wisdom of Taking Refuge

Verse 26 says, “The rock badgers are a people not mighty.” This is the only one of these small things that is not common to us. It is possibly an ancient animal now extinct. Scholars cannot agree on what creature Agur refers to here. 

• The KJV says, “The conies.” 
• The NASB says, “The shephanim.” 
• The NIV says, “The hyraxes.” 
• The ESV says, “The rock badgers.”

Our inability to identify the species does not hinder our ability to understand the proverb. Agur tells us what we need to know: “Rock badgers are a people not mighty.” Like the ants, the rock badgers are feeble creatures. They have neither size nor strength – individually or collectively. But though they are weak they are wise: “Yet they make their homes in the cliffs.” The rock badgers live in a world of predators. But they are foolish enough to think they can out-run threats in the sky or out-fight threats on the ground. They wisely flee to the cliffs and hide in the cracks and crevices of the rocks. Rock badgers know their weaknesses and strengths. They make their homes in something bigger, stronger, and greater. 

Years ago, I saw an interview with a preacher who was commended for his courageous preaching. Refusing the compliment, he explained, “You don’t have to be courageous to preach faithfully. “But if you’re going to be a coward, at least hide in the text.” That good advice for faithful preaching is also wise counsel for faithful living. Be wise enough to know how and where to take refuge. Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” 

• You can run but you cannot hide from God. 
• But you can run to God and hide in God.

There will be battles to fight that you cannot win on your own. A body-building rock badger is still small, frail, and weak. The rock badgers are a people who are not mighty. But they are wise enough to take refuge in the rocks. It does not matter if the tenant is weak as long as the refuge is strong. Psalm 61:1-3 prays, “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.”Jesus is that rock!

The Wisdom of Working Together

Verse 27 says, “The locusts have no king, yet all of them mark in rank.” Locusts are creatures of destruction. Joel 1:4 warns of coming judgment: “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” The prophet envisioned swarms of locusts destroying everything in their path. Agur notes this invading army marches forward without a king or queen. This is the weakness of the locusts. Locusts have no leader.

We acknowledge the necessity and benefits of leadership in every sphere of life. We also see how often leadership fails. Yet the answer to bad leadership is good leadership, not no leadership. Without leadership, there is anarchy. Judges 17:6 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It was a time of chaos, confusion, and corruption. Truth be told, even good and godly leaders struggle to get groups to work together. “The locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank.” 

Vance Haver said, “Snowflakes are frail little things. But if you get enough of them together, they can stop traffic.” None of us are strong enough to travel the journey of life alone. Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

A man went to an asylum for the criminally insane. He was a bit surprised to find there were three guards to take care of 100 inmates. He said to one of the guards, “Are you afraid that the inmates will unite, overcome you, and escape?” The guard said, “Lunatics never unite.”

There is wisdom in working together. Don’t do so indiscriminately. To be wise like the locust, know who to fly with and from. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

• You don’t need people in your life to help you sin. 
• You need people in your life who will help you do right. 

Your best friends are friends that make you better. Every Christian needs a local church to sit under godly instruction and walk with godly influence. Hebrews 3:12-13 says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” 

The Wisdom of Holding On

Verse 28 records the fourth and final parable. It is about “the lizard.” The KJV calls it a “spider.”The Hebrew word, used only here in the Old Testament, refers to a thing that creeps or crawls. Modern scholarship agrees the term refers to a lizard rather than a spider. Note the weakness of the lizard: “The lizard you can take in your hands.” No one goes around scooping up lizards, except curious boys at play. But anyone can take a lizard in their hands. It is not a venomous snake that will attack you. It is a defenseless little reptile. The lizard is weak but wise: “Yet it is in king’s palaces.” This is the only creature in the proverb that does not act. 

• Ants provide their food. 
• Rock badgers make their homes. 
• Locusts march in rank. 

The lizard does not do anything. The statement is not about what it does but where it is: “in kings’ palaces.” Seeing a lizard in a poor man’s hut or hovel would be no surprise. It is startling to see a lizard in a king’s palace. That’s the point of this illustration. It is the paradox of an inconsequential thing in an extraordinary place. The picture of the lizard indicates that we should read these illustrations spiritually. God is not mentioned in this proverb. But he is at work behind the scenes. 

• The Lord is the one who provides food for ants in the summer. 
• The Lord is the rock in which the rock badgers take refuge. 
• The Lord is the one who gives the kingless locusts directions. 
• The Lord is the one who allows the lizard to reach kings’ palaces. 

You don’t have to lie, cheat, or steal to get where you want to go. God is able to put you in places you don’t belong! Philippians 4:22 says, “All the saints greet you, especially those in Caesar’s household.” The Lord is still able to put lizards in kings’ palaces. That is not a call to “let go and let God.” E.K. Bailey said: “Without God, you cannot do it. Without you, God won’t do it.” The lizard is found in kings’ palaces because it knows how to hold on! 

Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”