The firefly is a beetle that is fascinating to all of us. Seeing their little lights flashing on for a second or two on warm summer evenings is an interesting experience. They are also sometimes called lightning bugs. Many children who see them like to catch some in a jar so they can watch them up close as they turn their lights on and off. In some tropical areas there are large firefly species, and people keep them in bottles to use for light.
Scientists would like to duplicate this kind of heatless light, because it is much more efficient than electricity. They know how the light is produced, but the chemical reactions, one set to turn on the light and another to turn off the light, are so complex that man has not been able to use them. We should not be surprised at this, because it is a very special reaction created for these insects by God their Creator.
The firefly begins life in the ground; even its eggs have a glow to them. Before it is ready to fly, it develops into a glowworm. You may have seen these shining as they crawl around looking for food.
There is another illuminated insect found in some caves in New Zealand. This little fly, while still in the worm stage, gathers in groups of several thousand on the ceilings of caves and glows in the darkness. After attaching itself to the roof of the cave, a two-foot-long string drops from its mouth with small, sticky balls on it. It waits in the darkness with its taillight glowing, until it feels a victim struggling to get loose from one of the sticky balls. Pulling it up, it eats the victim along with the string. Then it lets down a new string.
There are over 500,000 species of insects throughout the world, and God has made each one different. This variety speaks of His handiwork and never-tiring care over them. All these little creatures, as we see them today, are the same as they were the day they were created thousands of years ago. God designed each one to reproduce after its kind. Furthermore, they always obey His laws without question, and by doing so every need is provided for.
These lighted creatures remind us that the Lord Jesus was announced as the true Light of the world. God has given His people a special kind of light that He also wants displayed. His Word, the Bible, says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)).