Hedgehogs, Foxes, and Humility
In my small group yesterday, a friend told me the parable of hedgehogs and foxes. It is an old story dating back to at least 600 years before Jesus and is attributed to Archilochus (and you could read more about him from Wikipedia). This story, though, has gained new currency as it has been reintroduced by the nationally acclaimed business author Jim Collins. The story goes like this –
The fox is a cunning creature. Day in and day out he tries to way to capture the hedgehog in his den. He waits quietly by the road, and one day the hedgehog wanders out to him.
“I’ve got you now!” shouts the fox with glee. The hedgehog simply sighs and rolls up into a spiny ball. The fox is defeated again. Though the fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows one great thing.
Collins goes on to comment that business can succeed if they excel at one thing and concentrate their energies. Christians reading this story have to ask, “What is that one great thing?”
In our group we considered the one great thing to be humility. This is the greatest thing that we can do. The Bible really bears this out:
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)
“Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4)
Let me add a couple of quotes on humility from Christian authors through the ages:
“The gateway to salvation does not live open unless we have laid aside all pride and taken upon ourselves perfect humility. . . this humility is an unfeigned submission of our heart, struck down in earnest with an awareness of our own misery and want.” — John Calvin, Institutes Book 3, Chapter 12.6
“Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.” — Andrew Murray, Humility (Whitaker House Press): 16.
This really seems to fit well with idea of making 2010 and year of discipleship. Let me encourage you to be a Hedgehog when it comes to humility. Curl up tightly and be resolute in your desire to be humble before God. It doesn’t matter if we are great at many things if we miss this first essential.
