The Insect Without Children

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Did you know that there is a creature that can have a huge number of offspring, yet never have any children? That unusual creature is the aphid. The first aphid of spring is a female, has no wings, and hatches from an egg early in the season. After about ten days, she will give live birth to another fully formed adult female aphid. There have been no males around. Within ten days the new female, too, is ready to give live birth to another fully formed adult female.

By the end of the summer, that first female aphid could have almost six million offspring! Obviously, one plant can't hold that many aphids. So those offspring born with wings fly off to another plant to continue this mysterious process. Once cold weather begins, the female aphids begin giving birth to both male and female aphids, some with wings and some without. The winged males fly back to the original plant, mate, and this time the females produce eggs that can withstand winter so the entire cycle can start again the next year.

The word “understanding” is often used in Scripture and refers to the sense in which God created all things in such a way that they interact and react to countless situations in precisely the way He designed them. The lowly aphid is an astonishing example of this principle!