I want to turn to Proverbs chapter 30 and also we're going to be reading from Proverbs chapter 6 a little bit later. But I want to turn to Proverbs chapter 30 and I trust the Lord to just encourage our hearts as we read a few verses. Proverbs is a tremendous book. It's a book of wisdom and when I became a Christian When I was newly converted, I remember my dear friend Tom Tice saying, you know, you should read a proverb that corresponds with the day of the month. And so you can read, you know, today is what? The 11th, so read Proverbs 11. Now, I'm not on that reading plan. at this moment, but I've done it in times past and I have found it to be very beneficial, to be very helpful. We know that these are pithy statements and they are full of wisdom and good food for our souls. And so I would encourage you, if you've never made it a point to go through the book of Proverbs, to go through them and to read them and to be encouraged by them. Tonight, we're just going to look at a few verses. I wish I could look at more verses or read more, but I think for sake of time, we're just going to read a few verses beginning in verse 24, and we're going to read down through verse 28. And so Proverbs chapter 30, beginning in the verse 24. And again, trust the Lord to bless these thoughts to our heart. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. Or if you have a reading in your margin, they are wise made wise. Verse 25 says the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth, all of them, by band. And then lastly here, verse 28, "...the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's palaces." Amen. I trust the Lord to bless these thoughts, these words, for his own namesake. Let us briefly once again ask the Lord to come and to help us and to help me specifically and in helping me to communicate and to communicate well, to communicate clearly. And I pray that I will be able to share with you what the Lord has put upon my heart. Let's all pray. Our Heavenly Father, once again we are so thankful that we can call upon thy name. Lord, we are your children, and we come crying unto thee, Abba, Father. Lord, we think of the text of Scripture concerning earthly fathers, and how they do give to their children, and how much more shall our Father in Heaven give the Holy Ghost to them that ask. We come, Lord, asking for the promised Holy Spirit. Lord, we're asking that the Spirit of God come and take these words and apply them to our hearts. Lord, we're thankful that we're handling a book that is quick and powerful. That it's not a dead letter, it's a living epistle. And it can speak to the heart. Lord, I pray that You will come and empower me Lord, that You'll use me. Lord, that You'll simply make me a channel of blessing to the people of God here this evening. Lord, we rejoice that we have this Word of God in our own mother tongue. That we can read it, that we can understand it, that we can be blessed by it. And so help us, we pray, Lord, as we come to this chapter, as we come to these verses in the book of Proverbs. Lord, do our hearts good, we ask. And so we do pray, help us to go forward in Thy strength. in Thy power, again pleading the blood of Christ over this gathering, over our sin, over our flesh, and over our weakness, we pray in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. On the sixth day, God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He Him. male and female. They were created for the purpose to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the earth, and to even subdue it. They were to be wiser and to have dominion over the water and the land creatures. They were to have dominion and to be wiser over the creeping things and the cattle that were created both on the fifth. and the six days of creation. Now, I'm not ashamed to confess that I believe in literal days of creation. I take that account literally. And I am sorry, and I say that, well, it just is amazing to think and to believe and to hear that there are people who call themselves Christian, who don't take the first chapter of the book of Genesis to be literal. Now, I say that all by the way. But back to what I want to talk about. Now, male and female, they were created in the image of God. They were given that authority. They were to have the dominion. They were to be wiser over the creation. Over the creeping things. The cattle and the things that were created in the sea as well. But sadly, you know as well as I do, because of the sin of Adam especially, they fell. and their wisdom turned into foolishness. And sadly, they are in many respects to learn now from the creation itself. You know, we can learn valuable lessons, I believe, even now, as the children of God. We can learn valuable lessons from God that we should never, ever forget. This evening, I want to share with you some good instruction from four small creatures that God said were very wise. And so tonight I want to consider with you tiny creatures and big lessons. And so let's take a look at the first remarkable creature God made in order to teach us. We read here four tiny creatures in Proverbs chapter 30, beginning in the verse 25. And the first one that I want to begin looking at here this evening is the ant. We've all seen ants, I'm sure. And we know that they range really in a variety of sizes. They have colonies. You know, I have ants in my backyard that I don't dare kill because I was told that ants like to eat termites. And I have termites, and I'm glad that the ant eats the termite. We've seen all sorts of ants, and it's not my desire here tonight, I'm no naturalist, to get into a study about the ant and to talk about its morphology and all its parts and how it lives from day to day. But nonetheless, we can learn some very good lessons from the ant here this evening just on a surface glance. You know, believe it or not, they do have colonies, and they have really colonized ants, that is, have colonized every land mass on the earth. That's quite amazing. Except for Antarctica and a few remote islands, every land mass you see on this globe, or every land mass that is on the globe, I don't think we've seen it all except by looking at a globe, has an ant. Some type of an ant. This is just simply a fun fact. There are 20 quadrillion ants on the earth. And so when you break that number down, really, there are 2.5 million ants per person. That's a lot of ants. That's quite amazing. And I guess that explains why they are an invasive species. But nonetheless, we come to our Bible, we read our Bibles, and we have to ask the question, why did, why does the Lord write certain things? Why did He reference the ant for our reading? We know that the Word of God, it's quick, it's powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. As John 11 states, we are sanctified by its truth. And so, the Word of God is very important for our well-being. It's for our nourishment in the things of the Lord. And so God has provided us a sermon in the ant. Now, I suppose we can go on all night and talk about the ant, but that's not my desire, but I will mention a few things about the ant. You know, what is it about the ant that the Lord is really trying to teach us? Now, we find reference to the ant in Proverbs chapter 30, and we also find reference to the ant in Proverbs chapter 6. There are specific characteristics that are highlighted, and we'll turn to Proverbs chapter 6 here in a moment. But the first thing I want to point out is that the ant really is self-motivating. You know, it has been observed that there are different classes in any given anthill. And, you know, there's the queen, there's the worker, and there are the drone ants. And again, each of them take the initiative to do their own work. And I find it rather interesting that they don't have a taskmaster. They don't have, you know, one like the children of Israel had that we read there in Exodus chapter 5, telling them to fulfill their work. Nor do they have officers that we read of in Solomon's day that ruled over the people that wrought in the work. No, simply put, you don't need to tell an ant what to do. They just know what to do, and they do it with all of their being. They're self-motivating. The second thing to point out is that they know how to prepare. Not only do they take the initiative to do the work that they need to do, and they do their own work and they do it well, but they know how to prepare in their work. Let's turn over to Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6 and beginning there in Verse 6, Go to the aunt thou sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, no overseer, no ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest." They know how to prepare. They know how to be diligent in their work to get things done, to have what they need to have for the season of life. But another thing to mention is that ants, as I've already said, you know, they prepare, but they're diligent. They're very hard-working creature. You know, when I was studying, we had a fella and the Morrows had a chance to meet John Woods over in Northern Ireland. And we used to say that John Woods was indefatigable or indefatigable. He was like a machine. He was like a robot in some respects. He just got the work done. And interestingly, the aunt himself or Well, the ant. You know, they don't get tired. Even though they are weak, seemingly, from our perspective, they don't get tired. And, yes, they're small, nonetheless. You know, God says they are wise really because they're not lazy. You know, they give all their attention and all their effort to building the colony and caring for its survival. Now you may be asking, well, why are you talking about the ant? Well, there's some very good application for the people of God. There are two references about the ant, and we looked at both of them there in the Old Testament. And Proverbs 6 really gives us the primary reason why God mentions the ant. He says, Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Go to the ant thou sluggard, and consider her ways." You know, as I thought about that, you know, you can't help but to think, like the ant, we should learn how to prepare ourselves before the Lord and for every season that the Lord has created and has established. You know, there are some people, and I will put myself in this, there are some people, saint and even a sinner alike, who do not think to prepare themselves for eternity. You know, it just comes to me, the prophet Amos, when he says, prepare to meet thy God. You know, there is for both the saint and the sinner alike, the urgency, the needfulness to prepare to come before God. You know, both can be described as the sluggard. There are saints, and there are sinners alike. Whether it's in the physical or in the spiritual realm. who fit this description. In the natural or the physical realm, the sluggard really, when you think of him or her, is only concerned or provides for, and I wrote it down this way, the in-the-moment living. They really live for just the now. For the present. There really is no thought or planning for the future. For down the road. And I've shared this quote with you from Proverbs 13 and verse 4. And just recently, it says that the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing. but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Let's turn to a few references, please. First of all, to Proverbs 20. And verse 4. It says there concerning the sluggard, the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. Turn to Proverbs 21, just a few verses away, in verse 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. And then turning over to chapter 24, and verses 33-34, it says, Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come, as one that travaileth. and that want as an armed man. You know, as I was thinking of the sluggard, I think in many respects, they take the Word of God out of context. And what I mean by that is that you read there in Matthew 6, and the verse 34, so I don't misquote it, But Matthew 6, verse 34 states, as our Lord was speaking, Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And so in many respects, there is no worrying about the morrow or the future for the sluggard. Oh, because I don't know what is on the morrow, why should I then plan for it? Why should I then prepare for it? Is their thinking. But when we consider spiritually speaking, You know, when we look at the sluggard, there are sluggards who are sleeping away, as it were, the opportunities of the grace of God in their lives. In many respects, and it's come to me in Hebrews 5, as I was sitting up here, and the verse 12. You think of those Christians specifically. You know, they're sleeping, as it were, their Christian life away. And they're not making any diligence to pursue the things of the Lord, to pursue the graces of God that have been afforded to them. And what an indictment we read in v. 12 of chapter 5. It says, for when the time ye ought to be teachers, oh, the Christian, the sluggard, Oh, you should be at a stage in your life where you're mature, where you're fully grown, or there close to it. Able to teach, able to share, able to lead others. But because of your slothfulness, your laziness, because of your idleness and your sleepiness, Oh you, it says, for when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Oh you should be chewing on the meat of the Word, but because again of the indolence, oh you're still stuck drinking the milk. You're not mature. You're not where you should be in the things of the Lord. But then you think of also in the spiritual realm of the sinner. And there are sinners who do not take the opportunities that are given to them to call upon the Lord, to be saved, to trust in Him. You know, I like what was said years ago, and it wasn't coined with me, but I have kept it and I enjoy it. There's only one time to be saved. for the sinner. Paul told the Corinthians, behold now is the acceptable time. Behold now is the day of salvation. And how often do we come in contact with those who are dead in trespasses and in sins? We know that they are blinded to the things of the Gospel, that the God of this world has darkened their understanding. We plead with them, we tell them, today you must call upon the name of the Lord. You don't know what a day will bring forth. Oh, it may be that the Lord will call you into His presence, and He will say at that time, depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. We plead with them and we say, you need to come to Christ, but how many sinners, how many people do we come in contact who just put it off? Oh, I'm not going to worry about it today. I'm too busy living my life. I'm too busy living my life for me. I had the opportunity this past week and and I've been praying about it. And I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me this opportunity as I've shared with some of you. You know I come across some pretty well the Bible says that we'll always have the poor among you. We'll never get rid of the poor. And there are people that I come in contact with who are, in my estimation, more than poor. They're homeless. They're strung out on drugs. They're in a bad, bad way. And nonetheless, my heart goes out for them. And I pray for them. And as I see them, it just breaks my heart. And I had an opportunity when I was on the other end, the east end of Indian School this past week. I had to tell a gentleman that he needed to move so I can work on the machine. And he was very compliant. He was no problem. He was just standing near the machine just so he can kind of feel a little bit of the air conditioning. It was a hot day. He found our receptacle, and so he had plugged his phone in, and he was charging his phone. And I had the opportunity to talk with him, and we just, you know, were talking and chatting for a few minutes. And, you know, I thought, you know, I'm just going to tell him about the Lord. And I had an opportunity to share with him the gospel. And I shared with him that he needed to call upon the Lord. That he needed to trust in the Lord for his salvation. That the Lord can, as Dr. Paisley so aptly put it, he can save from the guttermost to the uttermost. And I shared with him that the Lord can make you clean. Oh, he was strung out on drugs. Yes, he was in somewhat of a right mind. He said that he only did so much of a certain drug. He looked like he was newly on the street. His clothes were pretty decently worn. They weren't totally worn out. His bag was in good condition. And he said that he had just come up from Tucson. just about a week or two prior. And we got the chatting, and again, I was sharing with him that you need the Lord. And he says, God has my back. And I said, no, if you're not a child of God, you're under God's judgment and wrath. And I pleaded with him, you know, that he needed to call upon the Lord to be saved. And, you know, and in a flash, I also gave him a bag of ice. A cup of cold water, the scripture says, right, in the Savior's name. And I wanted to show him that I was sincere and genuine, not just for his spiritual well-being, but for his physical well-being. But it just came to me, and I thought, you know, this man truly is a sluggard. He was given an opportunity. He was given the opportunity to call upon the Lord and be saved. And he refused the grace of God. He rejected the salvation of Christ at that moment. You know, I left there and I thought, I pray that the Lord will save him. That the Lord will somehow echo or re-echo those words in his heart and in his mind that he needed to be saved. And then I trust that someone else, you know, the Bible says one man plants and another man waters, but God giveth the increase. And so I trust that the Lord will do a gracious work in him. But we are to consider the ant. Go to the ant, thou sluggard. You know, the ant teaches us that we should work hard for our spiritual food. You know, I've learned and I'm learning that, you know, we are to dig. We're to do as what, you know, our teachers tell us, especially in seminary, that we're to do the spade work. That we're to do the digging. even the child of God, that we're to read our Scriptures, that we're not just to read a verse for a week, but that we're to read the Scriptures on a systematic basis. To hide the Word within our hearts that we might not sin against the Lord. We're to find ourselves in all the means of grace that God has afforded to us. To take full advantage of them. So we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord. You know, God forbid that we become anemic in spiritual things. But let us not be like the sluggard. Let us work diligently. Let us work hard for our spiritual food. You know, we are to work for the meat. as John 6 and 27 says, that endureth unto everlasting life. Let's move on now quickly to the second creature that is found in Proverbs 30, and that is the coney. The coney. What is the coney? Have you ever seen a coney? Have you ever petted a coney? Have you ever gone to the zoo and, you know, noticed a coney on display? What is a coney? A coney could be described as a rock badger or really a rock rabbit. Some call it the hyrax. I've never seen one up close and personal. They look somewhat like an overgrown guinea pig. The word, the Hebrew word, shifon, suggests that this animal is inclined to go into hiding. Now, like the ant, the Cones prepare themselves as well, but not in the same way the ants do. They prepare themselves from danger. You know, they build their houses in rocks. We read in v. 26 of chapter 30, the Cones are but a feeble folk yet make they their houses in the rocks." You know, though they lack strength, because they're a very weak creature at best, they make up for it with their wisdom. And again, that's why Solomon writes, they are exceeding wise. You know, in many respects, the Koni, you know, they work smarter not harder. And really that is the secret of their wisdom. They do so because of their feebleness. They're a very feeble folk, the Word of God states. Conies, these animals, these little creatures, really they're an easy target for predators. You think of the birds, the birds of prey, and they're constantly flying above the rocks, circling for food, looking for something to eat. You know, they fly high above, so high, unbeknownst to creatures, and they're scanning, they're spotting easy prey to snatch up unexpectedly. You know, predators that lurk on the rocky hillside look for conies, look for these little creatures that are really careless. You know, some of these animals, they come out of hiding and they go just a little too far from their habitation. They get a little too comfortable away from home, as it were, from that place of security, from that rock, that they live in and they become a victim. They become prey to the predator. And again, as I was thinking of the Coney, you know, we must remember, you know, as the people of God that we are vulnerable, that we are a vulnerable prey to the devil. You know, the Bible says that He is a roaring lion who walks about seeking whom He may devour. You know, He's looking for opportunities. He's looking for our weaknesses. He's looking for our feebleness to take advantage of and to consume us. You know, I think it's very important, you know, and I tell my children and I tell myself, you know, as we traverse this sinful world, as we are walking through this wicked world, that we have to keep our heads on a swivel. We can't keep them buried, as it were, in the ground like an ostrich. The Bible makes that very clear that we are to walk circumspectly. And again, to illustrate, when I go to some of these machines, you know, I'm constantly scanning around because I'm handling a lot of money. And I don't want it to be taken by surprise. And that's how it is with the child of God while we live. You know, the devil himself, he's seeking to consume us. He's seeking to spoil us. He's seeking to destroy us. Proverbs 22, verse 3 says, A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. You know, in conjunction with what we have already learned from the ant, you know, we need to be careful of being spiritually weak. You know, our Lord says, watch and pray. lest ye enter into temptation." And again, to just piggyback on what I said a little bit earlier, we are the weakest. We're probably the most vulnerable when we have not been praying, when we have not been seeking the Lord, when we have not been reading our Bibles, when we have not been availing ourselves in the means of grace, when we have not been building up ourselves in our most holy faith. They're wise, yes, and they take advantage of their feebleness. But we find that these Kones are wise because of their fortress. They make their houses in the rocks. You know, I find it rather interesting that they don't build anything themselves. They take advantage of what's already been built, what's already around them. They don't build from scratch. They make their way into the crevices and into the holes of the rocks. Somewhere in the rocks they make a den and they have a little safe haven to raise their families and to live. They're out of harm's way. Nothing can reach them as they're far into the rocks. You know, the rocks are their fortress. You know, again, Konies teach us a very valuable lesson concerning safety and finding safe refuge for the child of God. They teach us the necessity of having a fortress, something that is unpenetrable. You know, I think of two references in relation to our fortress. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our rock. He is our fortress. He is our spiritual fortress from spiritual foes. He's our refuge in the time of storm. As Deuteronomy 32 and verse 4 states, He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He. You read there in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 4, you remember what followed the children of Israel as they traversed the wilderness. It was the rock Christ Jesus. He is our rock. He is our hiding place. And so we must, you know, learn from the Coney. Yes, we're a feeble folk. And we must have a fortress that is greater than ourselves. We must have the Rock Christ Jesus as our fortress, as our high tower, as our refuge. Now to the third thing that I want to point out, and that's the locusts. The locusts. It says, the locusts have no king, yet go they forth, all of them, by bands. They swarm or they go about in a group, forth, all by bands. Again, you read in Proverbs 6, really in reference to the ant, but it's also in reference to the locust. They have really no leader. They have no office bearer. They have no guide. And yet, they swarm about with precision and discipline. They guide themselves as a whole. They're orderly. The locusts are an amazing creature. The prophet Joel, he spoke of them, and we're not going to turn to that passage, but he spoke of them in chapter 2, v. 7 and in v. 8. And he referenced them as a well-ordered army. as it were men of war, marching every one on his ways, not entangling their ranks, not getting confused one with the other, but walking every one in his path." If you read the Septuagint, it says that the locusts are without a king, yet march at one command in good order. You know, these insects teach us really a number of things as well. They teach us the importance of unity and unanimous movement. You know, the locusts did not take a course of their own. You don't find one swarm going this way and then, you know, some going in another direction. They all work together. They all go together. You know, how often do we come in contact with Christians, with those who know the Lord, who profess to walk with the Lord, and yet at times they take to themselves an individual course from everybody and everything else in Christianity. They don't belong to any organization. to a denomination. They're under no discipline. They're under no direction. They march to the beat of their own drum. We've seen Christians like that. Locusts teach us, really for the child of God, how we are to behave, especially how we're to behave ourselves in church and as a body of believers. Though a church is made up of individuals, and we know that to be true, yet everyone is part of a group. We must fly together. We must work together in one united cause. And as I was thinking of this, you can't help but to think of Psalm 131 and the verse 1. You know, the psalmist writes, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. You know, there's a Puritan saying, and I like the Puritans. I'm not like some guys out there who are just so, you know, immersed in the Puritans, but I love the Puritans. And there is a Puritan saying which says, there are some things that are good and not pleasant. And there are things pleasant and not good. But there is one thing good and pleasant, and that is for brethren to dwell together in unity." It was aptly put, unity and not diversity brings the good thing of the heart established with grace. We find that reference there in Hebrews 13. You know, the strength of any given church that is seeking to promote the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel is not an army of irregular or undisciplined and even disorderly soldiers that are not connected with one another. Rather, to use the words of the proverb, it is better that a church go forth, all of them by bands. It is good when the church is united, when the church is concentrated, coming together, as it were, and being disciplined, working together, helping each other, while keeping their rank. Not, as it were, stepping out of line. You know, we know that that is biblical. You read there in Numbers chapter 2, and you know, when I heard of the passing of Dr. Douglas, my heart quickly went to my studies in Numbers. When I was studying there in Northern Ireland, Dr. Douglas took us through the book of Numbers. And it seemed like, you know, we were reliving what the children of Israel went through. You know, we were just traversing the wilderness. And it was a wonderful study. You read there in chapter 2 of the book of Numbers, and you can go there and find it yourself, there was an order to the children of Israel in their marching and especially in their camping. You know, we've seen pictures of the tabernacle and of all the tribes encamped around about. It was decent and in order. And so the children of God, we're to be united, we're to work together, we're to help each other, and we're to keep our rank. You know, it's been said, the Lord heal our unhappy divisions, unite our energies in one holy bond of truth and peace of faith and charity. And now lastly, the spider. Now, I'm going to take the spider to be the spider. And there are a lot of commentators who would even reference this to be a lizard. But I'm going to reference it as a spider. The spider taketh hold with her hands. We know that certain lizards do, especially the gecko. but taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces." You know, growing up, my mom, and I think I've said this before, she was so deathly afraid of spiders that she went out and got a tarantula. You know, we, my dad had built this terrarium and it was excellent. And she brought this Mexican tarantula home and she dumped it in the, and I'll give her credit for doing just that, you know, having a fear of spiders. She dumped this tarantula in this, you know, enclosure. And, you know, she was deathly afraid of spiders. You know, we had it, we'd look at it, we'd try to hold it. And I remember probably after the first day we had it, we had a towel or a sheet over it the whole time. my mom just did not want to see the spider. She had really a real fear of spiders. Now the spider that I think what is being referenced here is not the tarantula, but though the tarantula kind of spins a type of web, You know, spiders do, they spin their webs and they have this ability and it has, you know, it's beautiful, these webs. They spin them with great skill and they're very diligent in their web building. It's a miracle. to look at certain webs. Now, by the way, if you see a web and it's not systematic and it's not, you know, really just symmetrical, that's a black widow. Don't get your hands near it. The spider. Yet, strangely enough, you know, a spider's web is very capable. Yeah, it's small. It's very capable of catching bigger bugs than itself. And yet at the same time, it is fragile. You can't stand on a spider web, it won't hold you up. You read there in... Job chapter 8 verses 13 and verses 13 to 14, it says, the hypocrites whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be like the spider's web. You know, what an interesting contrast in verse 28 we read here. When you think of the job of the spider, Really, it is simple and yet it's humble work. But what is fascinating is where the spider's work can lead them. And it's pointed out here that the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in, they don't say, you know, a tent or some mean place. They say a spider's web can be found in king's palaces. You know, a spider's web can be found in the White House. In places of great reputation and of great esteem. What a contrast is being pointed out here. You know, it says, her hands take hold in king's palaces. You know, as I was thinking about that, what we can take home here tonight from the spider is how to be diligent in our work. You know, the Bible says, "...whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, because there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." You know, as I referenced the verse, "...the soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing." But we know that diligence is rewarded. Proverbs 22 and verse 29, it says, Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings. You know, I referenced this morning Joseph. And he was a man who was diligent in his business. I referenced, you know, he was diligent in his witness, in his work, and in his words. And he was, you know, looked upon and seen to be a man who was, you know, earnest in what he did and what he said and how he approached things. And he was elevated. You know, God has provided these little creatures, and we're going to close here, to teach us some very important lessons. that we should not forget. You know, I think we would all do well to heed the words of Zechariah 4, verse 10, that we're not to despise the day of small things. You know, it's been said well that let us not be too proud to learn or too careless to attend to the humbling but most valuable lesson taught in this school of instruction. Again, to quote the proverb, chapter 1 and the verse 5, a wise man will hear and will increase in learning. There be four things which are little upon the earth. but they are exceeding wise. The Lord calls us to be wise. The Lord calls us to consider these four creatures and to apply them diligently, the lessons they give to our own lives for his own namesake. Amen. I trust the Lord to bless this study, these devotional thoughts to our own hearts.