The art contest at Country Bible Church is in full swing now and the entries will start coming in this week. Several people have mentioned to me that there are not many subjects in Proverbs that lend themselves to artistic expression. Au Contrare! Ships at sea, men with maids, spiders in kings houses, ants preparing for winter, and another great visual is found at the end of Proverbs Chapter 24. It says, “I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.”
The next verse brings home with one powerful statement the difference between the wise man and the fool. The fool cannot learn the lessons of life. He repeats his folly again and again. The smart man may make the mistake but he learns from them. A wise man on the other hand, learns from the failures of others. Here’s what the next verse says, “Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.”
There is a life lesson in many images that you encounter every day of your life. It might be the trees that stand in the strong wind. It might be the birds that fly south when the weather turns. It might be the worker bee who fulfills its calling under the queen. It might be the ant that is ever diligent. It might be absolutely anything the eye might behold. There’s a lesson in everything. Like the wise man of Proverbs we must take the time “to see and consider.”
Chuck
“There are four marvelous things: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.” Proverbs 30:19