The Wonders of God’s Creation
In summer the shrill chorus of many singing cicadas (locusts) can be very annoying. The noise goes on steadily with no break until suddenly, as if by a signal, they stop for a few moments and there is silence. But soon they are back at it again.
What the cicadas don’t know is that while they are singing, female wasps are hunting them. After finding a cicada, the wasp plunges her stinger into its nerve center. This paralyzes the cicada, but it continues to live. Then, firmly grasping it, the wasp tumbles to the ground. There she turns the cicada on its back so it can be pulled, head first, like a sled. The wasp’s purpose is to take the unconscious cicada to one of the many burrows she has dug in the ground. If obstacles make sledding too difficult, the wasp climbs part way up a tree trunk carrying her victim who weighs six times more than she does. From there she takes off, wings flapping furiously, sailing through the air as far as possible. She may repeat this several times before the trip is finished.
When she finally reaches the burrow, she drags the cicada to the bottom where she has already prepared a little room. There she lays an egg, placing it under the insect. Then she goes back out to catch another cicada. This process is repeated until two or three cicadas are brought to each burrow and an egg placed under each one. Then she leaves the tunnel and fills it with dirt.
In a few days the eggs hatch and begin life by feeding on the cicadas. After a week or so of growing on this food, the larva spins a cocoon around itself and remains underground through the cold winter. In early summer it changes into a pupa and shortly breaks out of the cocoon as an adult wasp. It then has to claw its way through the soil to get out of the burrow—a very hard job. Surprisingly, as a full-grown wasp its appetite is no longer for cicadas, but it feeds entirely on near. It is only when the mothers want to provide “cold storage” food for their little ones that cicadas are captured.
How does the female know where to place her stinger, paralyzing, but not killing, her victim? How does she know to place an egg under it so the little one will have food for its start in life? Who taught the babies to crawl up through the soil to escape their underground quarters? Surely we all agree that these instincts are given by God, who created and cares for them.
But have you stopped to think how much more marvelous are the things He has done for us? He gives us life and sustains it day by day. He also gives eternal life to all those who accept the salvation He offers. Salvation is provided through faith in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who died on Calvary’s cross for us. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” is His promise. Have you accepted this invitation?
ML-05/03/1981