We are what we are. We are male of female, short or tall, and there is nothing we can do about it. We are the product, physically, of the combination of the genes of our parents, and their parents before them. But which of us has not at some time wished we could be smarter, perhaps, or better looking? Or taller.
The greatest Teacher who ever lived took cognizance of this when He said: “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?” (Matthew 6:27) The answer, of course, is “No one.”
Yet there is a creature which can change not only its stature (size) but also its coloration, habits and to some extent its shape. This creature is the locust: more particularly, the locust of the Near-East and Africa (Schistocerca gregaria).
Extensive research has determined that locust hatchlings grow up to be either the solitary type or the swarming type. If the solitary type, the adults will wear subdued greens and yellows, and look a great deal like ordinary grasshoppers. They will be active mainly at night, and if they migrate at all it will be done in the dark.
But if they grow up as swarmers, they will develop longer wings, greater size, much brighter dress (consisting of brighter yellows plus pinks and reds), and they will feed and migrate during daylight hours. Swarming locusts will also delay sexual maturity for as much a six months, which is a very long time for insects whose life is normally less than a year.
These swarming locusts may take to the air by the tens of millions, in dense rolling swarms which may tower 2 ½ miles high, and cover 100 square miles or more. One swarm observed in Kenya covered 385 square miles! They may travel for more than 3,000 miles. And if they can find sufficient food, every locust in the swarm will eat its own weight in green stuff every day along the way! No wonder they are so feared.
Why do they swarm? And what triggers the difference in the way the young develop? Students of the locust have learned that the immediate environment is the key. Locust eggs must have moisture to hatch, and growing insects require large amounts of green food to sustain them.
If food is abundant when the young emerge, they will grow up as the solitary type, and will not leave the area. But if moisture is scant and food scarce, the young hoppers will begin to migrate even before gaining their wings, and they will take on the physical characteristics which better fit them for the exertions of extended migration.
Once formed into a swarm, the locusts will go on until they find a zone of adequate rainfall to accommodate their ravenous appetites and to ensure a good hatch of their eggs. After reproduction has taken place, the swarm gradually dies out.
We note that the choice of which type they will become is not up to the locusts. It is not by their “taking thought.” Neither did the earliest locusts “take thought” and evolve this potential for change. Every time the transformation is needed, it is needed in full and immediately, and this has been true from the beginning.
Neither did this unique response which locusts are able to make “just happen.” Nothing “just happens.” There is a reason for everything under – and over – the sun. Locusts were endowed with these qualities by the One who brought them into existence.
Just so were we also endowed with the qualities which make us unique. We, too, can adapt to life as we find it, thanks to God who made us. More than this, we can come to know God not only as the Creator of all things, but also as our Father in heaven, for to this end God created man.
The final destiny of those who know and love God is foretold in the Bible: “I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”” (Revelation 21:3-4)
But before anyone can come to this relationship with God, there must be a transformation inside, even greater than the change of the locust. God says: “…I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit…” (Isaiah 57:15)
Let us come to Him as humble and repentant seekers, seeking Him through His Son, Christ Jesus, as His Word instructs. If we do so, God has promised that He will walk with us and be our God.
(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)