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I first shared these lessons publicly in Fort Morgan, a small town in northeast Colorado, and I almost didn’t do it. Less than a week before I was to speak, I said to myself, “I can’t speak positively about locusts in a farming community!” And that day I read Proverbs 30.24 – 28:

²⁴  Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: 

• ²⁵  the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;
  
• ²⁶  the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
  
• ²⁷  the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;
  
• ²⁸  the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.
  

If scripture can use locusts positively, then I can too!

Here’s the lesson: how would you like to be part of a military unit characterized this way:

The invaders charge. They climb barricades. Nothing stops them. Each soldier does what he’s told, so disciplined, so determined. They don’t get in each other’s way. Each one knows his job and does it. Undaunted and fearless, unswerving, unstoppable. (Joel 2.7, 8, MSG)

Yes, he’s talking about locusts! Here’s a standard translation with some applications:

• Like warriors they charge. Are we on offense, actively trying to make a difference?
• Like soldiers they scale the wall. Are we undeterred by obstacles?
• They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. Does each of us know our job and do it? Can each of us operate within our own calling?
• They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path. Are we content to let others pursue their calling?
  
• They burst through the weapons and are not halted. Do we expect to be effective?

I’ll write more about these characteristics in the coming days, but in the meantime, can we be watching for life lessons in unexpected places?

Go to the ant, …Observe her ways and be wise. (Proverbs 6.6)