Advance through Wisdom
"24 There are four things which are little on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer; 26 The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags; 27 The locusts have no king, Yet they all advance in ranks; 28 The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings’ palaces."
Apostle Niyi Makinde
God wants you to advance. He wants you to keep scaling heights and going higher. One of the ways to advance is through wisdom.
From our opening text, we see four different feeble animals that are extremely wise. Let me break it down.
- 1. From the first animal, you will learn the wisdom for working without being supervised and saving without being monitored.
- 2. From the second animal, you will learn the wisdom for building
- 3. From the third animal, you will see the wisdom for order, leadership and maturity.
- 4. From the fourth animal, you will see the wisdom for expansion and spreading.
We see four little things that are exceedingly wise. They are little but exceedingly wise.
1. Ants
- The ants are a people not strong. Why would they be referred to as a people?
- They are not strong but exceedingly wise. That shows that you may not have physical strength but can be extremely wise. A small stone can kill an ant, but that ant has wisdom that the stone doesn’t have. You may appear feeble on the outside but extremely wise on the inside.
- The ants have the ability to prepare. They know the benefits of preparation. They prepare for next season during this season. They don’t seek the food for this season during this season, they have the food for this season since last season. The ants understand the power of preparation.
When they set out to work and gather food, they are preparing for next season.
God commanded those who want to be wise to go to the ant and learn. In other words, the ant isn’t strong but can teach. It doesn’t teach through words but actions.
Prov. 6:6-11
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
From the ant, you will learn the principle of working without being supervised and saving without being monitored.
When men are asleep at night, the ant is walking and working, moving everywhere searching for food to store up for the next season. If you are not working when men are sleeping, you don’t have the wisdom of the ant. Does that mean you won’t sleep? No. It’s just saying you should use part of the night or midnight to do something and not just give everything to sleep. Some use their night or midnight to pray, pan for the next day, etc.
You may not be big on the outside but extremely wise like the ant. If you are wise, God will command some people to learn from you. God has never commanded anyone to learn from a physically strong person. It’s only an extremely wise person that can be learned from.
Many are not diligent. They want supervision for effectiveness but the ant has no captain, no supervisor but will perform it’s task for the season well. If you can’t achieve things without supervision, the ant is wiser than you. Refuse to be a fool and be wise.
Eccl. 9:16 says “wisdom is better than strength…” The ants are not strong but wise.
The lion and eagle are kingly but the ant is wiser. The lion and eagle are not equipped with the kind of wisdom given to the ant. The ant has a saving culture and practice without being taught. But God gave the ant the instinct to save ahead knowing that its physical frame can’t resist erosion or heavy rain fall. So, the ant saves ahead so that when rains starts falling, it can hide. People beg for money because they are not wise as the ant. The ant is very weak but wise. The ant doesn’t beg for food but labor. And when it gets food, it doesn’t eat everything but save ahead for the next season. If you don’t have a saving culture, the ant is wiser than you. If you don’t know how to get out to work, the ant is wiser than you.
Eccl. 7:19 says “wisdom strengthen the wise more than ten rulers of the city.” Wisdom will give you the ability ten bouncers can’t give you.
Eccl. 10:10 reveals you use more physical strength when you lack wisdom. Wisdom brings success. Exceeding wisdom brings exceeding success.
The ants work as a team, they know the season, the know where to get the food, they build barns and store spaces.
2. Rock Badgers
They are feeble folks, yet they make home in the crags.
They can build in hard places. Hard places are hard because your mind is hard. There are breakthrough insight and barrier breaking ideas that can penetrate hard places. When you have the wisdom of the Rock badgers, there’s no place that will be too difficult for you to penetrate and dominate.
They can make home in difficult places. They can build successfully on hard system.
They can build successfully in a difficult nation and economy.
From the Rock badgers, you learn how to build. These doesn’t go out to gather food like the ants but their wisdom empowers them to build. The wisdom of the ants is for gathering and saving but the wisdom of the Rock badgers is for building.
There are many Rock badgers around you. There are people who have built great companies and organizations in hard and difficult places. Such people are Rock badgers that you can learn from.
God wants you to build great companies in hard economy. He wants you to build a great ministry in a region or nation that doesn’t value worship. God wants you to build great leaders in a society that doesn’t value effective leadership.
3. The Locust
They have no king, yet they are in ranks and advance in ranks.
The locust don’t break ranks and nobody set the ranks for them. They have no king but know who should be number one, two, three, four, etc.
From the locust, you will see the wisdom for order, leadership and maturity.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to do all things in order because they were not in order previously. With the locust, you will see the wisdom for effective administration.
The bible says the locust have no king. Why? Simply because God made all of them king in their making. Royalty and Order guides the locusts. No locust see itself inferior or superior to another. Yet, each know who should be ahead of it and who should be behind.
The locust are known for advancing, movement. They are never scattered and if you attempt to scatter them, they may be scattered for few moments but they will gather again and be in their former position. Each of them know its position. You know I wonder how God creates different species. Each locust know where it belongs. In every organization, company, ministry, nation, everyone need to know where he or she belongs.
4. The Spider (or Lizard)
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings’ palaces.”
Some translation of the bible refers to this as a lizard while some refer to it as spider.
It is amazing to know that both of them have the same quality. The spider can find its way into the palace of the king, so also the lizard. You may not see them inside the house but you can see them in the compound.
The wisdom given to this is the wisdom for expansion and spreading. From the spider and lizard, you learn that you should not remain in one place forever. You also learn that you should know how to enter the king’s palace. You should not just be seen in local places and ordinary places, you should be seen in great places.
Here’s the insight, the spider or lizard was never invited and will never be invited by the king to his palace but these will always invite itself. When you understand this, you will know that the governor of your states may not invite you, but you can invite yourself into his office. You can invite yourself into the office of the top CEO or moguls you want to connect with. In other words, since they can’t invite you, then, invite yourself there.
How will you invite yourself into great places? Send gifts there, send a letter of request that you want to see the authority in that office. You are going there not to talk or play but discuss what you can offer. You may also go present an award there. And so on.
The spider and lizard are in every city, so, you should be in every city.
You can see the spider’s cobweb in king’s palaces. He always leave a sign of its presence everywhere. Just as the spider can spread its web, so you should spread too.