When Crickets Preach

I got up this morning to hear the area was under a flash flood warning and we also had a 50% chance of more rain. The sky is full of big “thunderhead” clouds, but as yet no rain. Probably the heat of the day will trigger them into action. I’ve looked over the yard to see the grass needing to be cut back again, already, due to the abundance of moisture we’ve received. We certainly live in a different world when it’s wet verses when it’s dry. This past week it seems a body can’t take a step without squishing something mushy or mashing something squishy. Web worms, big black beetles, snails and crickets are all under foot and getting into everything. Gnats and mosquitoes are constantly looking for someone to pester with their never ending circling of the head. Just thinking about it makes you want to scratch an itch. This is also the prime weather condition to raise a bumper crop of grass burrs which get brought into the house via foot traffic. Most of the time the deposited grass burrs are in the house undetected, but are eventually found by bare feet in a rapid trip to the bathroom. Yeeoow!! It’s said that we’d complain if hung with a new rope and I have to admit one thing’s for sure. Having to put up with all this because of the wet weather is still better than dust everywhere.
A young boy was squirming through another worship service. This particular Sunday was to have an added distraction. As soon as the preacher got up to deliver his lesson, a cricket followed him onto the stage. He probably came in through one of the many cracks that could be found in the old building. Everyone in the first three rows saw the cricket. The boy’s eyes followed its every move. It would come close to the edge of the pulpit area, then move away only to return. “Jump! Jump!”, he thought. But alas the cricket did not jump. The young boy never knew if the sermon was good or not, but the cricket was sure fun to watch. When the invitation song began, everyone stood up and watched as the cricket ran off. Several people laughed when the cricket almost got stepped on by the song leader as he approached the microphone. Then the boy’s laughter turned to amazement. Someone had gone forward! It was his dad! The boy and his mom had been trying for years to get him to come to worship with them, to no avail until today. Now the preacher was taking him to the water for baptism. “Dad”, he asked later. “What made you want to be baptized today?” His dad replied, “Didn’t you hear how Jesus gave His life for us so that we could be saved from our sins?” The boy hung his head in shame. The beautiful message of the Bible had not reached him that day. He had been watching the cricket.
[Mark 4: 1-20] In Jesus’ parable the seed is the Word of God and the farmer sowing the seed is a teacher of the Word. As with the young boy, the world is full of distractions drawing us away from God and His truth. “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.” Are you hearing the word, but not really hearing it at all? If the world is in our heart, there lies our understanding of life. If we “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6) we will fulfill God’s plan for life. Every time God’s Word is preached the devil is nearby distracting you with fretful babies, a sneeze, a cough and crickets. Don’t let Satan rob you of the life-giving, soul-saving power of God’s Word.