The cricket!

(A.B. Jack, "God's Providence" 1879)

We are all very apt to believe in divine Providence when we get our own way; but when things go awry, we think that God is only in Heaven and not upon the earth.

The cricket, in the spring, builds his house in the meadow, and chirps for joy because all is going so well with him. But when he hears the sound of the plough a few furrows off, and the thunder of the oxen's tread — then his sky begins to darken, and his young heart fails him! By-and-by the plough comes crunching along, turns his dwelling bottom-side up, and he goes rolling over and over, without a house and without a home! "Oh," he says, "the foundations of the world are breaking up, and everything is hastening to destruction!"

But the gardener, as he walks behind the plough — does he think the foundations of the world are breaking up? No. He is thinking only of the harvest that is to follow in the wake of the plough; and the cricket, if it will but wait, will see the gardener's purpose.

We are all like crickets! When we get our own way, we are happy and contented. When we are subjected to disappointment, we despair and murmur against God and His providence.


"We must confide in the judgment of God, and distrust our own. We are short-sighted creatures, and easily imposed upon by appearances, and know not what is good for us in this vain life which we spend as a shadow. But God cannot be mistaken. A wise father will choose far better for his infant, than the infant can choose for himself." (William Jay)