For its small size the male cricket is a very noisy insect whose chirps can be heard a mile away on a quiet night. These sounds are made in much the same way as a musician plays a violin. The upper surface of each wing is equipped with a scraper. This is drawn over the lower part of the wing which has 100 or more rough cross-ridges. By moving its wings, the chirp sound is made. This “music” is the way the Creator designed crickets to “talk” with one another in their own special language.
Toward the end of summer, the female cricket makes a hole in the soil about an inch deep and deposits about 300 little banana-shaped eggs. The young crickets hatch the following spring and immediately begin searching for dead insects or tender plants to eat.
As the young cricket grows, its outer skeleton splits open and drops off. This is called molting, and it is repeated sometimes a dozen times. When the final molt takes place, the wings and other parts of the body are fully developed. The common, black or field cricket is about an inch long when it emerges from its final molt. It has two long antennae at the front of its head that act as feelers.
The cricket is able to fly but seldom does, preferring to move over the ground in great jumps, like its cousin the grasshopper. Mature crickets (which do not live through the winter) live a short but busy life, eating a variety of things. They prefer tender, juicy plants, often doing great damage to farmers’ crops. However, they also move into houses and other buildings, eating clothing articles and bookbindings.
In cold weather they chirp less, and in hot weather they chirp more. Do you want to know what the temperature is? They say that if you count the chirps for 15 seconds, then add 40, you will have the temperature in Fahrenheit. Try it sometime.
Crickets represent part of God’s creation and have their place among all the things He has made. He has not only provided special features for their way of life, but He also watches over them, providing for all their needs.
What does the Bible say about His care over you? In Acts 17:2425 we read: “God that made the world and all things therein . . . giveth to all [people] life, and breath, and all things.” And in Romans 8:31-3231What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31‑32) these wonderful words appear: “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Have you ever thanked Him for His wonderful gifts to you?
SEPTEMBER 10, 1995
ML-09/10/1995