The Locust

You can't tell how big this locust is in this photo, but it is enormous, about the size of my hand. Everything in Florida grows larger-than-life, like the Valley of the Giants.

This particular one is in plain sight, silently and relentlessly chomping away; yet the destruction of this plant, and several more, went completely unnoticed by the owner of the property. Shocking.

Locusts don't get good press in the Bible. They were one of the plagues of Egypt. John the Baptist ate them. But when I was growing up in Chicago, they were the sound of summer in the trees, whining and calling to each other, a noisy, invisible backdrop to the long, hot summer nights.

I don't remember actually seeing one as a child, (grasshoppers don't count) although recently I have experienced the '17th year' when they die in alarming numbers and litter the streets and sidewalks with their crunchy carcasses.

So, are they evil destroyers? Protein for prophets? Musical melody makers? Once-in-a-blue-moon nuisances? I'm quite sure that God made them for a reason, and that somehow our world would be incomplete without them....yet, it wouldn't bother me if I never crossed paths with one again. In fact, there are a few other creepy insects that I'd like to take off the Florida map. Cockroaches come to mind.

The fact that, for the most part, locusts remain invisible, yet are capable of so much destruction, demands we pay attention; at least when they are chomping away within our borders.

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith..." I Peter 5: 8-9