I was in the middle of my quiet time with God reading Jeremiah, when this question popped in my head:
“Why the heck did God create cockroaches?”
If only all roaches could be as cute as you…
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a strong and somewhat humorous (to others anyway) dislike of these foul creatures. It’s a strange question to pop up during quiet time, and it was probably triggered by the ginanormous cockroaches I encountered on my run while escaping zombies. Gilbert has Hulk sized cockroaches that surface at night. Yuck. I spent more time fleeing the cockroaches than I did running from zombie hoards.
BTW there aren’t any zombies in Gilbert…yet. But, if you enjoy zombies as much as I do, check out: Zombies Run. It’s awesome. It makes running way more fun now.
Get fit AND prepare for the zombie apocalypse? YES PLEASE!!!
Anyway back on track now…
I actually ended up making a pretty good bible study out of this question. This is one of the explanations I found on the internet. I think you’ll enjoy it. This was borrowed from June’s Journal (junesjournal.com):
God has a purpose for everything, right? He has a purpose for the rain. The moon. The stars. Even our lives. But what could God possibly have had in mind when He created cockroaches? These hideous critters carry germs and diseases. Some buzz. Some even fly. They multiply eggs by the thousands and attempt to infest homes all over America. They are downright nasty. I mean, have you ever met anyone who “likes” roaches? If a roach had a Facebook page, would anyone “like” it?
Well, years ago in college, I stumbled on what I believe to be five (5) answers for the “Purpose Driven Cockroach.” I was spending the night at a friend’s house. An upperclassman. She had moved from the dormitory to a trailer not too far from campus. My friend was asleep. Snoring. And there I was lying in her pull-out guest bed in the kitchen/living room. Wide awake. Staring at the ceiling. Just thinking. When suddenly out of nowhere appeared three long-legged hairy spiders! Yep, three. And they were crawling the walls.
Mind you, I knew exactly what kind of spiders they were. Huntsman spiders. You see, they are commonplace in Lakeland, Florida. But despite seeing them all the time, they still spooked me out. As these spiders paraded around the ceiling, the “what ifs” began running through my mind. What if the spiders crawl into my bed while I’m sleeping? What if my mouth is open while sleeping and one of them crawls in my mouth? What if one bites me? What if they spin a web around my face?
Then, before I could think of the next “what if,” I was startled again. This time by a roach. You gotta understand, where I lived in Florida, roaches just don’t crawl, they fly! Certain ones. They spread their wings and get to buzzing and they can fly into the air. I have chills just thinking about it. So here I am, half past midnight watching a horror movie of spiders and roaches crawling around.
My eyes stayed glued to the roach as he carefully crawled up the wall. I may have prayed at this point. Something like, “Dear Lord Jesus, please don’t let the roach fly. Please don’t let the roach fly.” And that’s when it happened. One of the spiders lunged forward and landed on top of the roach! I was so freaked out. I mean, here are my two least favorite insects, one on top of the other. And that’s when I realized the spider was eating the roach! And then it became clear to me. One reason why God created roaches. And as I sat contemplating that one reason, other reasons came to mind. Here they are…
Reasons For Cockroaches
The food chain. Apparently roaches make a nice snack for huntsman spiders! And their food for other critters too I’ve learned.
They Motivate Us Clean. It’s true! People living with a roach problem typically don’t leave food out, keep dishes washed, and take trash out quickly. After all, who wants roaches? Nobody! Oh, wait. The spiders want them. But you know what I mean.
They Show God’s Creative Side. Roaches show God’s glory. And His creativity. Think about it. Only God, the greatest, ultimate Creator could come up with something like a cockroach. As undesirable as they are to most of us, if you really think about it, roaches quite fascinating. Look them up in Wikipedia and you’ll see what I mean.
They Show God’s Sovereignty. Just the simple fact that humans can’t get rid of them (i.e., 100% extinction from planet Earth) shows the sovereignty of God. Hey, if God wants roaches around, then dog-gone-it, there’s nothing we can do about it. Man has tried (unsuccessfully) to eradicate them from the planet. Kind of like the killer bee that continues to reproduce themselves despite man’s best attempts to wipe them out.
They Make Good Sermon Illustrations. Yep, sermon illustrations. Preachers can compare roaches to many things, making them “allegorical” (say that 3 times fast). I did a Google search on roaches and “sermon illustrations” and actually found quite a few.
So there you have it! Now you know why God (possibly) created roaches. If you have other suggested reasons as to why our sovereign Lord and Savior created these hideous things, please leave a comment.
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