Hey, mate, pleased to meet ya....

A continuing series inspired by a visit to Kauai.
I’m no wizard about lizards, but I do believe this is a “gecko,” which is so common in Hawaii that it decorates tourist items. Eight of the world’s 900 species of gecko have settled in the islands. They help earn their keep by eating cockroaches, which also abound in this tropical land.  Unlike the chatty green cartoon gecko with an Aussie accent, featured in ads promoting a certain insurance company, geckos tend to be quiet and elusive. One showed up daily on a fence by a stairwell at our hotel in Kauai. But if we got too close, he slipped away in an instant.

So what life lesson can come from a gecko?  The Bible is rather silent about the critter, though it does mention “lizards,” of sorts.  Enter a 500-year-old linguistic dispute over two verses, between King James’s crew and modern linguists. Leviticus 11:29-31 listed a number of amphibians as “unclean” for eating. The King James version names the “chameleon and the lizard.” The NIV named these as the “gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon.” The linguistic drama deepens over in Proverbs 30:28.  What the KJV translates “spider” comes out as “lizard” in the NIV, based on newer linguistic information.  Rather than get twisted over translation questions, there’s a bigger truth in this Proverbs passage:

Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:
Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
Conies [hyrax or rock badger] are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags.
Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks;
A lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces. (Proverbs 30:28 NIV)

This whole chapter, titled “Sayings of Agur,” departs from the usual couplet form of most of Proverbs. Instead, it uses lists from nature to convey spiritual truths. As for this one, the author seems to be observing this:

*Ants prepare.
*Badgers are wise builders.
*Locusts show the strength of order and cooperation.
*Lizards are fearless.

 All those qualities are also those of a healthy church. By ourselves, we may not feel like we make much of an impact. But together, we do. And as for the lizard showing up in kings’ palaces, we don’t just slither through a crack in the wall of our King’s palace. We’re welcomed there by the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  The One who created every living creature on the planet, including the humble gecko.