November 30, 2008

Today's Reading - Proverbs 30
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Following Scripture Verses

1. The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
2. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
3. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
4. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?
5. Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
6. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
7. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8. Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
10. Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
11. There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
13. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
15. The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
16. The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
18. There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
19. The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.
20. Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
21. For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
22. For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
23. For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
24. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
25. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
26. The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
27. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
28. The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.
29. There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:
30. A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;
31. A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
32. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
33. Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Today's Pathway:
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"The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;" - Proverbs 30:27

Today's verse is given in the context of verse 24, which speaks of creatures that are small, yet wise. Locusts are certainly not large creatures, but according to this verse they are wise because they are able to go forth as a might army, yet they do it without a king.

I believe that there are two lessons that can be learned from the locusts. First of all, they accomplish things without having someone tell them what to do. It seems to me that there are many people who sit around waiting for someone to give them instructions. They either are too unobservant to see what needs to be done, or they are too unimaginative to come up with a plan, or they are too lazy to do the work. If someone comes along and spells out for them exactly what to do, they may get it done, but there is no chance that it will happen unless some leader makes it happen. The Bible teaches principles of leadership, but this verse shows that a wise man sees the need and attempts to solve the problem whether anyone else tells him to do so or not.

The second lesson is that locusts accomplish their work by going forth in bands. This means that they are not trying to do things individually, but they are working together, without one person being in charge, in order to get the job done. Often people are motivated by their pride, and thus they refuse to work with someone else lest they might have to share the glory or perhaps the other person might have a better idea for solving the problem. According to Solomon this is not important to the locusts. There are things that they need to do, and they work together to get them done.

Look around you to see if things need done. Once you have seen a need, attempt to meet it, and be willing to work with others to see the goal accomplished.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery