Alcon Blue (Phengaris alcon) ~ Enjoying God in the Presence of Enemies

The Alcon Blue butterfly has a fascinating life cycle.  A mother butterfly carefully lays her eggs along the blue petals of the marsh gentian flower, high up where predators cannot eat them.  Down below, all manner of creepy crawly things would just love to gobble up those eggs.  Usually, if a caterpillar hatches and accidentally falls to the ground, it is quickly consumed by a wasp or an ant.  Yet, biologists were surprised to discover that a couple of weeks after the Alcon Blue caterpillars hatched, they deliberately launched themselves off of their protective flowers and into the dangerous world below.  The larvae were quickly overrun with ants and carried away.  How were the butterflies coming back each spring, if in their larval state they seemed self-destructive?

 

Eventually it was discovered that these butterflies are myrmecophylous, meaning they have a positive association with ants.  When the ants took them back to the nest, it was not to eat them, but to raise them as their own.  The caterpillars, though much larger and pinker than ant larvae, put off a pheromone that smells exactly like one of the ant queen’s babies.  They even mimic the little grunts that an ant larvae makes when begging for food.  So the ants bring them into their nursery and care for them.  The little caterpillars grow for years, until they are big enough to make a chrysalis.  Then they emerge with wings, climb out through the entrance to the ant nest, and fly away totally unharmed.

 

When I read about this interaction, I was utterly fascinated.  A creature that normally destroys caterpillars ended up being its protector and caretaker.  It’s also strange to think about a caterpillar living underground, in the dark, when normally they grow out in the sunlight.  As I pondered this, I remembered the words of Psalm 23v4-5: 


“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

 

Why would God prepare a place for us among our enemies?  Why would He lead us through a dark valley, when we are children of the light? We can find the answer by looking back through time at the many people who enjoyed God in the presence of their enemies.  The Egyptians had not idea when they enslaved the Jewish people that one day those very people would plunder them before walking through the city gates, free.  Because of his open worship, Daniel was thrown into a den of lions.  Yet he came out unscathed.  Throughout our history, countless tales are told of God making a way for us, even among would-be enemies. 

 

Whenever I have gone into a dark pit, I always come out again with a deeper understanding of God’s power and trustworthiness.  He proves Himself again and again.  Sometimes, when things get tough, I sit back and pray, "Alright, Lord, I'm ready to watch you make a way for me through this impossible situation."  What is impossible for me is never impossible for Him!  Perhaps, even as you are reading this, the Lord is reminding you of a moment when He prepared a table for you in the presence of a potential source of harm--a moment when you went from fear to simply enjoying God's love.  Yes, sometimes we end up places we did not expect to be.  In fact, we may even find ourselves surrounded by enemies.  But that does not mean that we are about to perish!  God has anointed our heads with the oil of joy, and that is a powerful scent to those around us.  That sort of anointing changes human hearts; changes the course of history.  Thus, even in the presence of a would-be destroyer, God can bless us and mature us and nurture our faith.  We have much to learn from this little blue butterfly!



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