The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization is working on a policy that would promote the eating of insects as a possible source of nutritious food. It seems that beetles, crickets and lots of other insects have high nutritional value.

Eating a handful of grasshoppers has about the same protein as eating the same amount of ground beef. (I can’t imagine a taco with crunchy grasshoppers, though!) Crickets have a very high amount of helpful calcium. (And did you know that you can tell the temperature just by listening to the chirping of a cricket? Listen to one. Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and then add 37. I am told that will give you the current temperature!)

But I digress…back to munching on creatures. According to a recent issue of “National Geographic,” a serving of red ants will yield your body 7 grams of protein. Apparently over a thousand species are already a part of the human diet. Stinkbugs are in Mexican sauces, the folks in Thailand deep fry water bugs and the Aborigines “down under” like the lemony flavor of a certain kind of ants.

The UN is proposing this shift in dietary choices as a means to address world hunger. It seems that insects can be farmed cheaply and on a very small piece of land.

I must admit that I chuckled through this article, but when I sat it down I began to think about the concept that “we are what we eat.” Biologically it is true, but it is also true spiritually. If we “eat” only spiritual junk food, our spirits will be misshapen, mal-nourished and unable to sustain a robust spiritual life.

If on the other hand, we routinely consume God’s word, hiding it in our hearts, meditating on its practical impact, discussing its importance and praying over its application-we can grow.

That is no doubt what Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet had in mind when he penned the words of Jer. 15:16: “When your words came, I ate them and they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.”

This week, maybe we all ought to consider God’s Word in a slightly different light. Reading our Bibles with understanding is not a requirement, it is a delight. Let’s look at the scriptures as the source of true nutrition and remember that it sustains our very lives.

As we consume the truths of His word, we will be able to “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And we won’t even have to bite down on a single cricket!

By His Grace and for His Glory,
Sherry L. Worel