Late in the autumn the female praying mantis lays one hundred or more eggs on the branch of a low bush, carefully placing them layer on layer to make a pile about the size of a walnut. Then she makes a foam that looks like beaten egg whites and covers them with this frothy material. This will protect them from the cold as they remain on the limb through the winter.
When spring warmth comes, the eggs hatch and the little ones wriggle out to start a life of eating other insects. Sometimes the stronger ones even eat the weaker ones before they get away. Exposed to the air their skin promptly hardens, but as they grow it splits open and drops off. This process (called moulting) is repeated several times until by mid-summer they have finished their growth and their wings appear.
The praying mantis is always silent, and the curious thing about it is the way it catches its prey. Green and brown in color, it is camouflaged to look just like part of the plants on which it climbs. Finding a suitable spot, it lifts up its arms, making it look like it is praying, and remains perfectly still until some unsuspecting victim comes along.
It usually doesn't have to wait very long before a beetle, caterpillar, hornet, fly, or even a mouse or small snake-not aware of the danger-comes too close and is captured. The front legs of the mantis have sharp spikes, and once the victim has been grasped it has, no chance of escape. But at least its death is quick and merciful. The mantis seems to know the nerve centers are located in the back of the neck, and immediately on making its catch it bites through these nerves, bringing instant death.
Of course the praying mantis isn't really praying, because it doesn't know anything about God who is watching over it and providing its food. It doesn't know this One that taught its mother how to protect her eggs and has shown it how to care for itself-things it could never learn to do with its small brain. Its ways seem cruel, but since it destroys many bad insects it is a friend of every gardener and should not be harmed by any of us.
In observing the ways of this insect we see another example of the way God has arranged for the care of one more of His creatures, and at the same time providing a necessary means of helping to control insects that are harmful.
Its manner of life, as it appears to be praying (but is actually waiting to catch something), makes us think of those who do not really know the Lord as their Savior, yet they pretend to be "religious." The Lord saw many people like this when He was on earth, and on one occasion said: "Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing... and the chief seats in the synagogues, and... which devour widow's houses, and for a pretense make long prayers." Mark 12:38-4038And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, 39And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: 40Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. (Mark 12:38‑40).
But to those who sincerely seek Him the promise is: "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." Psa. 145:1818The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. (Psalm 145:18). He will always hear your prayer when you speak to Him with a true heart.