Text: Isaiah 40:21-22
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in."
Bugs. The very thought of them conjures up all sorts of images in my mind, none of them pleasant, I am afraid. I do not possess the blind curiosity of my youngest son, Sterling, who pursues with vigor anything with more than 4 legs. Bugs give me the creeps!
Have you ever considered the life of an insect? I mean, they start off all nasty and such... lots of slime, and in time, they break forth into the world with one thing on their mind -- survival. It seems that most insects go about their daily routine of eating, dodging the next level on the food chain, and moving on to the next place to eat and dodge the next... you get the picture.
Grasshoppers are known for their voracious appetites, and have become a target of the agricultural segment of our country. It's funny, I have to laugh about a time this summer, when a certain young lady friend of mine, and her brother, (both children of a farmer in Montana), took it upon themselves to teach both of my boys how to remove the legs off grasshoppers for sport. They claimed it was helping their dad protect the crops! (yeah, right...)
I think of grasshoppers in another light, as when I was 16, I was totally traumatized by a swarm of them. I had just got done cutting the lawn of a plot of land that had not been mowed for almost 20 years, and after just one sweep of the lawnmower through the 5 foot grass, my blue jeans came out totally green - I was covered with grasshoppers! I jumped, and so did they!!!! It was enough to put anyone in therapy!
So, needless to say, when I read this passage on Isaiah about how the people of earth are as grasshoppers, I began to ponder the implications of such a statement. I began to get this awesome mental picture of how big God is, and how small we are in comparison.
As I continued this line of thought, I was drawn to consider God's love for us, even though we are as "grasshoppers". God must be kinda like my son, Sterling, I thought... fascinated with the creepy things in life. Certainly, I would qualify for a "creepy" thing, given my life's history. Perhaps, I thought, many would have a similar testimony.
And yet, God loves us. What a profound thought... He not only loves us, but He loved us enough to send His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on our behalf - making the ultimate sacrifice, once for all, that we might believe in Him, and find eternal life!
In Romans 8:17 I read that if we are children of the King, then we are heirs, heirs with God, and co-heirs with Christ. This brings with it an element of sharing in His sufferings, but that not without purpose... but that we might also share in His glory. Is this not our purpose? Just as the lowly grasshopper has a purpose in life, it is our purpose to grow ever closer to the goal of sharing in Christ's glory.
So, the next time you find yourself feeling a bit down, consider the life through the comparison to a grasshopper, and then consider this - Christ died for that grasshopper.
Note: I feel compelled to make it clear that Christ died for us, His creation, His children, and not to save the insects... I know that seems silly, but just as sure as I forget to mention it, I will have a mailbox full of theological reprimands. I am drawing upon the visual imagery here, and that's all...
Copyright © 1992, 1996 Eric S. Reamer, all rights reserved