LITTLE CREATURES
John Laurie
Proverbs 30: 24-28
It has pleased the Spirit of God to leave us a record in the written word of God concerning these four small creatures that are said to be “exceeding wise”, the ants, the rock-badgers, the locusts and the lizards. Clearly that is not simply to tell us about the characteristics of these small creatures but has some particular significance for us, and I seek the help of the Holy Spirit to show how it has a very special bearing in relation to the glad tidings.
First of all, the ants are mentioned. It is said of them that “they provide their food in the summer”; that is, they take advantage of favourable conditions in order to provide for that which would sustain life. How important! What a word for us all! We are living in a very favourable time in that respect. The grace of God has appeared, and it carries with it “salvation for all men”, Titus 2: 11. That is like the summertime. When judgment comes, it will be like the severity of the winter with all its loss, but we are in a favourable time: “now is the well-accepted time”, 2 Cor 6: 2. A long time ago a prophet said, “Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near”, Isa 55: 6. What an opportunity, like the summertime, the time of favour, to provide for what would be necessary in view of securing life! Food would be essential for the life of these little creatures. They were concerned to preserve what was needed to secure life, and God does not want any of us to perish.
We often refer to that very well-known passage in John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. What a wonderful favour that God has moved from His own side to bring in blessing and the opportunity for life through trusting in the Lord Jesus. I add these words, ‘through trusting in the Lord Jesus’. You might ask, ‘How can I obtain life?’. Well, He has died, the Saviour has died, that we might live. The Lord Jesus came here and one of the prime objectives in His heart was that on God’s behalf He might make life available for men. God had in mind that souls should not perish but come into the gain and enjoyment of life, and the Lord Jesus when down here was moving as a Man under the power of the anointing; He went about doing good and blessing souls, but finally He went forward to the cross because the serious fact is that we are all as sinners under the sentence of death. We do not have life in ourselves. We are under the sentence of death, and, until that sentence be justly removed, there is no opportunity for the enjoyment of life. Well, the Lord Jesus went by way of the cross. He bore the penalty that was due to me, and I can say that instead of now remaining under the sentence of death and the final judgment of God because of being a sinner, I have found life through trusting in His Name. We are in that sense in the summertime. Peter, one of the early preachers, in the first recorded preaching in the book of the Acts, said, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, Acts 2: 21. What an opportunity! I am sure Peter was, in effect, seeking to tell those present that for them as yet it was like the summertime. It was a time of favour, and “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.
Well, let us be wise. These creatures are “exceeding wise”. They pay attention to these things. They take advantage of the opportunity. Oh to seize the opportunity for blessing today! Do not miss it through being careless or unwise but be like these little creatures, “exceeding wise”; God gives the opportunity but we need to pay attention from our side.
Then it says, “the rock-badgers are but a feeble folk, yet they make their house in the cliff”. Well, here we have another example brought before us of creatures that make their situation secure. Some people say, ‘Well, I will just do the best I can and I will just take a chance’. That is not security. That is not like the picture of the steadiness of a house on the cliff, on the rock. We are told in the Psalms concerning these little creatures, “the cliffs, a refuge for the rock-badgers”, Ps 104: 18. It is a place of security for them. It is not in any sense an allusion to the danger of a cliff; it is to the solidity and strength and place of refuge on the cliff.
What a foundation has been laid in righteousness by the Lord Jesus! There is no other foundation, the apostle Paul says (1 Cor 3: 11): Christ is the foundation! Righteousness has been established as a consequence of the work of the Lord Jesus. His precious blood has been shed, that blood by which atonement has been made so that the sinner who would call upon His Name and trust in Him might come under all the security and the shelter that His precious blood would provide. What a place of shelter, shelter from the coming wrath and judgment! We have been brought nigh to God as a consequence of the work of the Lord Jesus at the cross. Peace with God has been established.
Oh, to be wise and come into the good of it like the rock-badgers! They are “but a feeble folk, yet they make their house in the cliff”. They seize the opportunity to make their situation secure. Oh that souls might do that today, trust in the security that comes through being under the shelter of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, secure from the wrath and judgment to come, brought into the enjoyment of life and peace, unshakeably so! We are told so beautifully in the epistle to the Romans that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”, Rom 8: 39. Could you ever find a more secure place? If you trusted to riches, or took a chance on your personal history or conduct, or sought to turn over a new leaf or do something better, there is no security in that. You have no way of eradicating the past history, and you have no way of protecting yourself from the possibility of continuing failure, but to be under the shelter of the blood is to be in a place of permanent, blessed security, brought into divine favour and blessing.
Then it says, “the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands”. How interesting! No apparent controller or governor, and yet they are all together and concentrating on the one thing! If someone came in this afternoon to this room and asked us who the controller is in our company, what could we say? We do not have such an outward controller or an organiser, or a place where there is a committee appointing rules and regulations or any such thing. Our hearts are focused on Christ. For us, He is the Centre; He is the Object; He is the binding force. That is what keeps the lovers of Jesus together. Every heart is focused on the Centre, Christ the Centre. These locusts, to outward appearance, have no controller guiding them or steering them along. For us, the Lord at the moment is absent. What binds us together? What binds the lovers of Jesus together? It is because they have a common trust in Him, and have established Himself as the Centre of their faith and outlook. What an abiding effect that has keeping us together! It is a wonderful privilege to be in the company of the lovers of Jesus. That is not an organisation. It is a wonderful, living system of divine affections and life amongst those who love the Lord, and find their joy and home where affection for the Lord Jesus is the great binding element. The Lord Jesus said before He left His own, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13: 35. It was a witness. There was something that attracted their hearts and united them to Himself. That was just the example that took place with David of old. There were all kinds of personalities gathered together unto David in the cave at Adullam. At that point David was not the king. He was not ruling over them all, but they came because their hearts were attracted to him, and then shortly it indicates that he became a captain over them, 1 Sam 22: 1, 2. The influence of the Lord holds us and guides us and binds us.
I was interested in that hymn that I read at the beginning. There is a verse there that says:
Life is found alone in Jesus
(Hymn 266).
I once misquoted that and said, ‘Life alone is found in Jesus’; that is not true. It is not only life that is in Jesus. You will find everything for your soul’s satisfaction in Christ. There is peace; there is joy; there is happiness; there is privilege; there are untold blessings, much to be found in Jesus. That hymn was written by Albert Midlane; he has several hymns in the book. If you care to look up the index at the back and read the hymns, you will find that he writes about many other subjects of joy and blessing that are to be found in Christ, which would hold our hearts, just like the locusts, held together because of a binding, common influence.
Then it says of the lizards, “thou takest hold of the lizard with the hands, yet is she in kings’ palaces”. What are we to learn from this wise creature? I was thinking when pondering over it before the meeting that you could not take hold of a snake with your hands: it might turn round and bite you. You could not take hold of a porcupine: it might pierce you with all its many spikes and cause serious harm. You could not take hold of a lion: it is too strong; it might devour you. But you can take hold of a lizard, a small defenceless creature, just like the saints, the lovers of the Lord Jesus! They were laid hold of - that thought is used in the beginning of the Acts. It says of the apostles early on that the authorities “laid hands on them”, Acts 4: 3. They took them with their hands; “they laid hands on them”. They did not have to go out with riot gear and special equipment. The believers were just a simple people witnessing for Christ, but there they were. It says here, “yet is she in kings’ palaces”. They were brought into significant places on account of their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, defenceless outwardly, loved by Him and cared for by Him. They found their way into public courts to render testimony. The apostle Paul was also taken with wicked hands, which sought to put him in prison, and bring up false witnesses against him at his trial. He found his way into high courts as well: he found his way before king Agrippa, Acts 26.
What testimony has been borne by the lovers of Jesus, perhaps outwardly feeble, and able to be taken with the hands, but rendering testimony on account of love for the Lord Jesus! Oh, to be here in service and responsive affection towards the Lord Jesus who has so loved us! We have been loved with a wonderful love, a love that is eternal and very, very blessed and full in its scope. We were speaking in our reading here about being taken up that we might bear fruit, and these two things are important: bearing fruit by way of answering response in love to divine Persons, but then meantime here in testimony, wherever that testimony may be rendered, perhaps in a meeting-room. I have been in a meeting-room in another part of the world where I saw lizards coming into the meeting-room. I have been in houses where I have seen lizards drop in. It is amazing how they get in! Think of how the Lord would use one and another to render testimony. Here we are in a meeting-room today, and the testimony of the glad tidings is going out again through the grace of God!
Well, be wise! May the word reach into your heart and bring about an answer for blessing and for glory to God! These little creatures are said to be “exceeding wise”. May we be wise and not be foolish in a day of opportunity like the summertime when life and blessing are available through trusting in the Saviour’s name! May we do so to His glory!
BRECHIN
22nd November 2020