To Be or Not to Be ... a Locust???

One of our favorite ministers is Dr. Oscar Brooks. I sure hope Dennis and I don't sound like the proverbial "know--it-alls," (think: obnoxious, avoid at all cost!) but in a bow to transparency, I have to admit that because we have sooooo many years of Christian service under our belts, sooooo many sermons we have heard, it's always positively refreshing when we hear something new to us. New, not as in some crazy "cutting edge" theory that seeks to upend tradition in the hopes of appealing to the masses, but new as in opening our eyes to realities in the Scripture we had never seen before. That is the forte of Dr. Brooks. A-died-in-the wool missionary, he is one sold-out-to-God minister … one whose intake on Scripture never fails to breathe fresh life into these old bones.

Our move to Tennessee took us far, far away from Dr. Brooks' pied a terre in the U.S. . . . but thank God for CDs !!!! We can still hear some of his sermons, even if we can't see him. Which brings us to today's topic . . . ye olde locust.

We listened one day as we were out and about on a trip, riveted to Dr. Brooks expounding on the differences between a grasshopper and a locust. Although we know Dr. Brooks doesn't deviate from truth, what we were hearing so boggled our minds that I rushed to google as we listened, and, to our dismay and his vindication, found his assertions to be right on! Under the right conditions, grasshoppers can turn into locusts!

I think it's safe to say that most of us consider grasshoppers to be rather innocuous insects remembered more for their nocturnal serenades than anything else. If you google them, you will find just how beneficial they are in facilitating plant decomposition and regrowth. They are also, strangely enough, kosher--meaning that they are a perfectly legit food under the Old Testament dietary rules. In fact, they have been recognized as some of the most antioxidant-rich insects on the planet, as well as being an excellent source of essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients, containing only negligible amounts of cholesterol and other fats. Hmm . . . sounds like John the Baptist was onto something when he included these bugs in his diet! I had the rather dubious pleasure of eating a taco of sautéed grasshoppers in Mexico once--tasted okay, but the crunchiness kind of turned my stomach, sounded too much like cockroaches being squished to really enjoy the experience.

Be that as it may, I think it's safe to say that grasshoppers are okay dudes. Locusts, on the other hand . . .

Everyone pretty much knows that locusts were one of the plagues of Egypt. There are other references in the Bible about locusts, about 36, and they are not good. Locusts swarm, eating everything in their path, devastating crops and leading to famine and starvation. No wonder they are considered plagues! Dr. Brooks broadsided us with the fact that locusts are derived from the innocuous grasshopper! Sweet little grasshoppers can turn into ugly, ravaging locusts!!!!

In his sermon, as you can probably guess, Dr. Brooks compared the grasshopper to Christians, and laid out some dangers they need to steer clear from to avoid changing into locusts. The dangers hinge on the key component that turns cute little grasshoppers into fear inducing locusts: the teeny tiny little neurotransmitter known as serotonin.

What is serotonin known for? Think pleasure. In one experiment, grasshoppers were injected with high amounts of serotonin and in 3 short hours they morphed into their horror inducing relatives. Beauty turned beast through pleasure. Think about the spiritual ramifications of this.

There are some secular books I read periodically because of the beauty of their language. Although not "Christian" per se, because they were written in another era, when vulgarity was not the norm and virtue was actually prized as a virtue, one can enjoy the beautiful euphony of the prose without fearing the introduction of any seedy or unsavory action on the part of the characters. One of these books is Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. After her youngest sister shames the family by absconding with a rascal, (yes, that is not virtuous, but absolutely nothing untoward was presented in the text and every reference to the shameful behavior reflected a thoroughly respectable viewpoint) the protagonist, Elizabeth, muses on the probability of her sister's happiness in the coming years. Austen writes in Chapter Fifty, "But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple … brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtues, she could easily conjecture." In other words, the pursuit of pleasure would not result in longevity of happiness. Serotonin, synonymous with pleasure in the present, is not a recipe for protracted happiness in life.

Three short hours, and the injection of pleasure transformed the nice little grasshopper into a monster. Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:14). I'm with Joshua. I choose to seek Jesus, not pleasure, spiritual discipline over the path of ease that leads to destruction.

By and large, I would posit that spiritual discipline is encompassed in the daily seeking of the Lord through prayer and Bible reading, as well as in seeking strength in the house of the Lord.

I find it interesting that in Psalm 25 King David says, "My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the Lord" (v. 12). The inference is that there is a correlation between worshipping in the house of God and being on an even keel. There is just something we get spiritually in the house of the Lord that we cannot get by ourselves at home. It is not an easy discipline to acquire, life and the devil will conspire to throw every impediment to going to church before you--tiredness, fussiness in the children, you name it. And rest assured that sometime, somewhere, someone at church will hurt you. It has happened to me, it has happened to Dennis, and it will happen to you. But like my friend said to me the other day, "I don't go to church for Brother So and So--I go for Jesus." You cannot let a person used by the enemy keep you from the blessings God has in store for you at church. We need to keep our eyes set on Jesus, not man.

And talking about looking . . . The Israelites witnessed great acts of God , yet they were up one day, down the next. Close to God one day, morphing into murmuring rebels (locusts!) the next. Moses, on the other hand, had a much more stable testimony, not perfect but much closer to the Lord. Why? Psalm 103:7 says, " He (God) made known his ways unto Moses, His acts to the children of Israel." In other words, living in God's presence doesn't come from seeing what He does, even if they are great miracles; it requires walking with Him, talking with Him, communing with Him. I, for one, do not want an Israelitish relationship, happy one day, grumpy the next. I want a Moses-ish relationship, walking with Jesus every day, loving Jesus day in and day out, regardless of what comes. I want to remain a grasshopper!

I don't think Austen realized the spiritual depths she was plumbing when she said, "their passions were stronger than their virtue." Passions for earthly things are the draw to the pleasures of this world--immorality, debauchery, love of self. They bring a measure of pleasure, but their scope is limited; as sure as the sun rises and sets, they will, in the end, bring death. Unfortunately, even "good" things that are not sinful in nature but from which we derive pleasure can become spiritual snares. Frequent boating trips instead of going to church can easily become a habit. Reading secular material or listening to secular songs instead of Christian material can become pleasure pits that keep us from reading what gives us strength, God's Word, and listening to faith building worship songs. No wonder Peter wrote, "Be sober be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). Watch out! Our enemy is looking for grasshoppers he can turn into locusts!

I don't know about you, but I want to stick to Jesus and remain a grasshopper. No locusts for me!

Sidebar: The truth is, though, that there is a greater kind of pleasure in walking with Jesus, communing with Him, a pleasure that far surpasses anything this world has to offer. Don't drink the locust Kool aide! Choose the real thing, remain a true blue grasshopper!

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11).