Proverbs 30:24-28 - Homilies By E. Johnson

The significance of little things

I. EXAMPLES .

1 . The ant ( Proverbs 30:25 ); tiny in frame, yet full of providence, making wise provision against the rainy day.

2 . The hedgehog ("coney," Proverbs 30:26 ); though feeble, finds compensation in the strength of the dwelling it selects.

3 . The locust ( Proverbs 30:27 ); a creature, as an individual, easily crushed, yet gaining immense force by union with others. Joel

4 . The lizard (verse 28); another tender and feeble creature, nevertheless penetrates human dwellings, and makes itself at home in the palaces of kings.

II. LESSONS . The lower creatures show unconscious mind. What they do, apparently with blind mechanical impulse, is exemplary in many respects to us who have reason and will. The profoundest lessons may be derived from the lowliest things. Mr. Darwin's work on 'Worms' shows how the most despised of creatures, by the very law of its being, labours for others and blesses a world. It is folly to seek to explore the heights of wisdom until we are familiar with what it teaches us in the little and ¢he low. The "little flower in the crannied wall" contains in its life the secret and mystery of all existence.—J.