From time to time we may be tempted either to think too highly of ourselves or too lowly of ourselves. For those of us who are tempted to think too highly of ourselves, there are famous passages of Scripture that God has designed in order to quell this impulse (e.g., Philippians 2:3; Romans 12:16; Proverbs 11:2, 29:23; James 4:10, etc.). However, we also need to be familiar with those passages that will help us guard against thinking too lowly of ourselves (e.g., Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:29; Matthew 7:12; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Some of the most memorable of these verses come in the book of Proverbs, where we find what great things God can do with little things:
Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs; the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank; the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces (30:24-28).
All human beings are small and insignificant in comparison with the power and knowledge of God, and yet God gives to each of us abilities and opportunities which He believes are important (and He defines all value in the Universe), and of which He expects us to be good stewards. Notice how the Proverbs writer used four little creatures to illustrate the potential for God’s creatures to be successful as He plans:
- The ant is “busy during the summer preparing for the chilly days of winter” (A.G. Freed, Sermons, Chapel Talks, and Debates, 168; see Proverbs 6:6-8).
- The rock badger or coney is “helpless and defenseless. . . . But with its feeble hands it makes a safe home in the rocks” (Freed, 169).
- The locusts “do their work by bands without king or leader. They have a work to do, and in their eagerness to do it, need no commander. The impelling force of a true heart is, duty demands it” (Freed, 170).
- Lizards are quite small and often easy to kill, but we are always surprised where we find them. Those who are active, effective servants of God may turn up just about anywhere doing good.
Maybe you have been thinking that you are insignificant in God’s service. In reality, the only insignificant members of the church are those who have decided (against God’s will) that they are insignificant.