Proverbs 30:24
“There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”
The greatest place to gain wisdom is from those who have been successful. When I was a youth, I often had the opportunity to sit down with successful men of God and ask them questions. I watched what they did and copied the areas of their success because I wanted to be successful in the ministry.
In the verse above, God gives us insight from creation. He says that there are four things that are “exceeding wise.” God uses four little creatures to teach us wisdom on how to be successful. The lessons from these four little creatures are invaluable to anyone who wants to be successful in their life.
First, preparation is important to success. Verse 25 says, “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;” The ant understands that its livelihood depends on preparing in the summer. The summer is a time of plenty. Yet, the ant understands that plenteous times will not always be there if they don’t prepare.
The degree of your success highly depends upon how well you prepare. Last minute preparation always leads to failure. You may be able to succeed for awhile on last minute preparation, but eventually it will kill you. Those who are successful prepare well in advance. Planning takes away most of the stress in any project. Financially you need to plan ahead if you are going to be financially stable. In business and church matters you must prepare ahead to succeed. Those who are successful are those who prepare.
Second, reality is important to success. Verse 26 says, “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;” The cony is wise enough to know its own weakness. Successful people learn their weaknesses and surround themselves with people who are stronger than they in their weak areas. To lie to yourself about your weakness is only hurting yourself. Know your weakness, and let others who are stronger in those areas help you.
Third, teamwork is important to success. Verse 27 says, “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;” The locusts are strong because they work together. You will never succeed on your own. It takes teamwork to succeed. If you are a leader and you try to do everything by yourself, you will never reach your potential. Your potential is determined by your preparation and your delegation. If you can’t learn to let your team do some work, then you will limit your success. Always remember that teamwork will produce the greatest success.
Fourth, work is important to success. Verse 28 says, “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Nobody will ever succeed without hard work. The spider didn’t look for a handout, rather the spider took “hold with her hands” to get into the palace. Stop looking for an easier way and just work. You may not be as smart and talented as everyone else, but you can always outwork the rest and still be successful. It is normally those who work the hardest who see the greatest success.
You will never be successful without these four things in your life. I challenge you to keep these four things in front of you at all times as reminders of what it takes to be successful. Success is not a secret, but it is a result of preparation, reality, teamwork and work. You will never succeed without using all four of these things in your life.