THE CLEVER LOCUSTS

GREAT LESSONS FROM CONTEMPTABLE CREATURES
"THE DISGUSTING, YET UNITED LITTLE LOCUSTS"
(PROVERBS 30: 27)

Intro:
After high school, and a failed stint at MTSU, I move back home, signed up for classes AT DSCC, and found an apartment. I was so excited! I was to be "ON MY OWN!" My best friend and I were going to have our own place, and we could live how we thought we should. As a matter of fact, we were so excited, that we didn't fully investigate the complex into which we were to move. OH sure it had four walls, a sealing, and a floor: but that was about it. The kitchen was falling apart, the whole place had a funny smell, no matter how much you cleaned it, and then there were the bugs. At first, we didn't notice them. After all, we were both blind, and typically bugs and blind folks can coexist fairly well.
The first time that the bugs became a problem was after my friend had moved out, and I was living there by myself. My mom had come over to read me some of my homework, and as we were setting at the table, it happened. Mom looked up, and she gasped. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "Get the bug spray." I really didn't think that much of it at first, I knew there were roaches after all, and I just figured she had seen one.
Well, mom took the spray I offered her, walked over to the area just beside the counter, and then began to spray. Now, I thought that she would be spraying around the counter, or perhaps around the garbage can. What I didn't expect was for her to spray up around the top of the wall. However, that was exactly what she did. No sooner had she began to spray than I heard a sound. At first, I thought it was rain falling out front, but I soon learned that it was the sound of roaches falling into the garbage can. They were coming out of the walls, and they were falling all over the place as they died! Mom sprayed and sprayed, and finally said that she had gotten all she could. However, soon after that episode, we began looking for me a house to move into.
Hopefully, you will forgive me if I tell you that I cannot stand bugs. I don't like it when they touch me, when they fly by me, when they are even in the same room as me. To me, roaches are just about the most disgusting insect of all time. I would vote them number 1, but there is a bug which, in my opinion, just might take the cake. It is spoken of in both the Old and New Testament. They are spoken of both as a plague, and even as a meal. The insect in question is the Locust.
Locusts, just like the Ant in our first study, are from the kingdom Animalia, and the phylum Arthropoda. Most folks identify these insects from the book of Exodus. In Ex 10: 1-15, we read of God's decision to send a plague of Locusts upon the land of Egypt. Many are under the mistaken impression that that was the only time in which Locusts have fallen upon a given territory. However, in 2004, there was what is referred to as a Locust Outbreak in Western Africa. Also, between May and October of 1915, Locusts fell upon the Palestinian region, doing damage to both land and crops. The Locust is very similar to a grasshopper. They can grow to be about six inches in length.
In spite of my personal aversion to them, the Bible actually pictures Locust in a positive light. In the book of Proverbs, we see Solomon, by inspiration of God, showing us that Locust just might have something to teach you and me. In Prov 30: 27, the scriptures say: "The Locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands."
Tonight, we want to continue our examination of God's little creatures. We will look at the lesson behind the, "Disgusting, Yet United Little Locust." I want to help you to see how we are different from them, and how we should be more like them.
My prayer, as it has been in each of these lessons, is that you will take what God has to say to you, examine it, and then apply it to your lives. Join me as we consider the lessons from Locusts.

I. HOW WE AR DIFFERENT
As in each of the previous two lessons, Solomon begins the verse by saying something, which might need explanation. "The Locusts have no king." What could this possibly have to do with anything? We can easily understand that there is no hierarchical system in the Locust community. They do not elect a president, nor do they have representation in government. If they did, I'm confident that they would work much harder to improve their image.
However, what needs to be understood is that some insects have leadership. They have queens and guides who instruct them on what to do. According to Solomon however, Locusts have no such leader. They are without a queen to command them, or a guide to lead them.
Brethren, we are different from these creatures. We have a system of guidance. We have a king, a ruler, a leader to point us in the direction we should go.
Now, this is not some self-appointed King of kings, such as Artaxerxes. (Ezra 7: 12) Our leader is also different from the flawed King of kings named Nebuchadnezzar. (Dan 2: 37)
Instead, this is the King of Kings spoken of by Paul in his letter to Timothy. (1Ti 6: 15) Our leader, our King of Kings doesn’t just proclaim that name for himself; instead he wares it both on his vesture, and on his person. (Rev 19: 16) His name is Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s!
He is here to be our leader in terms of his words. (Mt 11: 28) We should follow his guidance in terms of his service of others. (Mk 2: 1-5) We should follow his example in terms of our practices! (Mt 4: 1-11)

Now, despite the fact that they have no leader, the Bible says that they go forth in bands. Another way of saying this would be that they are able to accomplish their goals. The question is, “How can they accomplish their goal without a leader?”

II. HOW WE SHOULD BE SIMULAR
Solomon informs us that the Locusts, “Go forth all of them by bands.” What exactly does this mean? The best way to understand this idea is by looking back in history. In 1926, there was a Locust outbreak which lasted for 14 years, and consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of five million square miles. Just to put that in perspective for you, that is almost twice the size of the United States. Consider the fact that in a one mile stretch, during a locust plague, there can be anywhere from 1 to 200,000,000 locusts. Think about the account given to us in the book of Exodus.
Beginning In exodus 10, we read of the eighth plague which God visited upon the land of Egypt. In fact, the Egyptians are told in ex 10: 5, that the Locusts would cover the face of the earth, and that the ground would not be seen. Do you realize what that means? Egypt covers roughly, 386,659 square miles. That means that God sent a plague, the likes of which haven’t been seen sense.
However, the point I want to make sure you see is that even without a leader, they managed to destroy the land of Egypt. We are told in ex 10: 15, that they ate every herb of the land, every fruit of the trees which had been left from the hail, and that there wasn’t anything green left in the land of Egypt. All of this damage caused by creatures without a leader.
Well, how did they do it? I think the answer is very simple. They were united. They had a common cause, and they didn’t allow anything to divide them. Solomon says that they go forth by bands. They go forth by bands because they are united in there mission.
Now, let’s bring our discussion forward to you and me. We to have a common cause. We are to seek and save the lost. (Lk 19: 10) We are to teach every nation. (Mt 28: 20) We are to preach the Gospel to every creature. (Mk 16: 15) We are to visit the widows and the orphans in their afflictions. (James 1: 27) We are to do good unto all men, especially them that are of the household of faith. (Gal 6: 10)
Not only are we to do these things, but we are to, “endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph 4: 3) In other words, we too must be united in our common cause, or we will fail.
The good news for us is that we have a leader, and he has shown us the way in which we are to work with one another.
First, we must be united in the cause of Kinship. In Acts 2: 44, we are told: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common.” This meant that they shared in good and in bad, in sickness and in health, and in times of wealth and times of poverty. However, it also means that they shared in their common mission! You didn’t have half a dozen different agendas working against one another! If we are to be like that first century church, then we must be united in this cause of kinship.
However, secondly, and most importantly, we must be united in the cause of the King. Folks, we need to be on the same page with God, or else we are writing our own book. The only problem is that it will be God’s book which shall judge us in the last day. (Jn 12: 48) No, at the end of our days, we want to be able to say that which Christ said near the end of his earthly life. In John 17: 4, as he prayed Christ said: “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Christ clearly states that he has glorified God during his time here on earth. How did he do it? By doing the work which God gave him. Christ didn’t come to do his will, but the will of the father! (John 6: 38)
If we are to be pleasing in the sight of God, and fulfill his work, then we must be united in both the cause of kinship, as well as the cause of the King!