Lawn Mower Theology

Have you ever noticed you have a lot of time to do nothing but think while mowing the grass?

Have you ever wondered why God created wasps (or "ouchy bugs" as my son calls them) and mosquitoes? While I was mowing this past weekend (and dodging the wasps and scratching the bites on my body), I had some time to ponder why God created these terrorizing creatures.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." That includes mowing the grass.
Here are some thoughts that came to my mind while I mowed...

1. To give us a longing for heaven.
I don't believe there will be wasps or mosquitoes in heaven. No pain. No suffering. Oh how wonderful it will be to sit outside beholding the glory of the Lord with people from every nation, tribe, and language without having to swat or duck! No distractions from the adoration of the King of all kings!

2. To make us hate sin.
After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God told Adam: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you...cursed is the ground because of you...thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you..." (See Genesis 3:17-18) I cannot help but think that one of the reasons wasps have stingers and mosquitoes have "whatever-it-is-that-cause-us-to-itch" is due to the sin of Adam. Oh how I hate sin and the effects of it everywhere around us. Sin destroys. Sin corrupts. Oh how I hate sin!

3. To remind us that we humans ain't much.
This past weekend I have allowed tiny little mosquitoes and tiny little wasps (not to mention tiny little flies!) bother me and annoy me to no end. Those little bitty creatures messing with six foot four, two hundred and fifteen pound me! How dare they! Yet they did. Wasps scare me. Mosquitoes make a buffet out of my ankle. I ain't much. In the grand scheme of things, this human can be beat up by a bug! Why? So this little human can spend his life making much a big God! I can be brought down by a little insect. NOTHING, however, can bring down God. He is a Rock. He is a Fortress. He is an EVER-PRESENT Help in Trouble! My life is to be spent, not making much of measly little me, but exalting the great and majestic God of the universe!

4. To give us a taste of the love and protection of our heavenly Father.
When an "ouchy bug" (wasp) gets close to my boys Luke and Seth I go on an all out attack to take crush the bug and dispatch it into eternity! I do NOT want them to get stung. Likewise, when mosquitoes have supper on Luke's legs, I hurt for him because I see the misery he is in scratching and scratching and scratching! Thus, the first order of business is to get to the store and get the ointment that relieves the constant itching! I hate seeing them hurt or oppressed in any way. They are so helpless!
Ponder this from Jesus in Matthew 7:11 - "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" Breathtaking. Overwhelming. What a heavenly Father we believers have in Christ.

5. To be consumed with the blood of the Lamb.
This may be a stretch, but hang with me, okay? I pondered what drove mosquitoes. I mean they flock to human flesh in a matter of milliseconds! Why? Blood. They are consumed with blood. They long for the blood to fill them.
There is a blood that must drive us believers as well. Not just any human blood of course. We aren't vampires or mosquitoes. We are to be consumed with the blood of our precious Savior, Jesus Christ, that is the punishment we deserve for our sins.
Remember what Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16 when He was reflecting on His upcoming suffering and death? Peter told him it would never happen to Him. Jesus called him Satan and said that he wasn't thinking on the things of God, but on the things of man. In other words, "the things of God" are the slaughter, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The bloody cross must be a consuming passion of ours.
Or consider these words from Jesus in John 6:53-54 - "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Oh how wonderful is the blood that was shed for the forgiveness of sins! May I ever rejoice in what Christ did to accomplish salvation for this desperate soul.

A few reasons, perhaps, why God created wasps and mosquitoes. I know, I know...too much time on the lawnmower.