"The Birds and the Bees"

Psalm 118.17-18 NLT

“I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not let me die.”

I am not a pest control expert but took my chances and successfully removed a watermelon-sized baldfaced hornets nest from a tree at my aging aunt and uncle’s home. Two of my sons, Uncle Pete, and I stealthily approached the hornet’s home after dark during the hornets’ “dormant” time of day. Pete shone the flashlight at the entrance of the nest and I aimed the aerosol wasp killer. My boys hid behind Pete peering cautiously over his shoulder and ready to bolt at the sound of a buzzing insect. The flashlight revealed two fully awake hornets just inside the hole guarding the colony.

I sprayed. Dozens of insects crawled out of the opening and fell to the ground. I pushed the deadly nozzle into the entrance hole and emptied the toxic contents into the nest. 

In the morning we visited the once thriving hornet community. About a hundred dead hornets lie on the grass beneath the nest. As I approached to cut down the branch holding the inactive hive, one solitary hornet poked its head out of the entry and buzzed past me. It circled the nest and then flew off to places unknown. I wondered how it survived the night of poisonous gas. Perhaps it had been away overnight or maybe newly hatched. Cutting open the paper shell I found a three tiered collection of cubicles housing living hornet larvae and pupae. I watched another young bee chew its way out of the protective paper covering and emerge to serve its community. Had I not physically removed the nest from the tree, it might have re-colonized. I was more than a little sad as I killed the remaining insects and disposed of the nest. These were God’s creatures trying to survive in a harsh, human world.

My thoughts went to the lone hornet who escaped my judgment. I wonder why it was chosen to survive and where it may be now. Will it find another community of fellow hornets or die alone? 

The surviving insect is not alone. God will take care of the little hornet. Jesus promised, “Look at the birds of the air… your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6.26). If our Father in heaven cares for the birds, He must also care for the bees. All communities, even communities of faith, are temporary havens of solace. Eventually, the community dies, at least for you, and you must stand (and fly) on your own. You are alone for a the same purpose you are alive… “to tell what the Lord has done” to those outside your community, to those who don’t yet know about Jesus.

“I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done.

But be encouraged. Your Father takes care of the birds and the bees, and you and me. You are never alone...

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Hebrews 13.5 NIV

“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28.20 NASU