God’s works are visible every day in the things He made. In the last month, several people noticed butterflies in our area and ask me if I could identify them.
They are Painted Lady butterflies. In May I shared how these Spring migrants illustrate endurance. They remained here to multiply during the summer. We also saw them at the top of Mount Crested Butte, Colorado in July, and along the Chef Joseph Highway in Wyoming in August.
I did not think much about these sightings because this species exists widely around that world. However, this fall these butterflies came in an unprecedented 70-mile long wave to the Denver and Colorado Springs area that was visible by radar. Radar previously recorded the instinct of Painted Lady butterflies to migrate in Europe where they travel unnoticed 3,000 feet in the air to Africa.
Why did the butterflies descend in high numbers on Denver and Colorado Springs? Reportedly a strong northwest wind was a factor in moving them in an unusual direction. The right way to ask the question is, why did God cause this unique event this year? The wind and the butterflies are works of the Lord.
“Who among all these [animals] does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:9-10
1. God wants to bless us with an abundance of life.
“I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10b
What a beautiful scene. Let us exult God for filling our land with beauty that illustrates new life in Christ.
“Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4
2. God is providing us with a witness of His existence. People noticed the butterflies with amazement. God has given us a witness of His power and divine nature. The works of God makes us all the more accountable.
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:20
Woe to us if we do not regard the deeds of the LORD, and see the works of His hands.
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. Isaiah 5:11-12
3. God is warning us to stop proliferating sin. Thistles are the preferred host plant for the Painted Lady caterpillars, so they are also called Thistle Caterpillars. Thistles are a sign of the curse that God placed on us because of Adam’s sin.
“And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” Genesis 3:17-19a
So large numbers of the butterfly suggest that thistles are multiplying. The best way to control the spread of thistles is to replace them with a healthy population of native plants. God may be telling us through the Painted lady butterfly boom to stop proliferating sin. We need to put off our old self (picture a field filled with weeds) and be renewed in Christ Jesus (picture a field of healthy native plants).
“as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:19-24
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24
Heed the warnings from God, repent, turn from sin and imitate God through faith in Jesus.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. … Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, expose them.” Ephesians 5:1-2, 8b-11
