You are standing out in a wheat field when you notice a black cloud forming in the distance. It begins to grow as it moves toward you. As you watch, you become aware of a strange, faint humming, but looking around, you can’t find the source of the sound. Gradually the cloud spreads out in front of you from one end of the horizon to the other, as far as you can see. The humming becomes a buzzing that soon crescendos into a roar. The cloud passes above you, darkening the sky, then begins to settle to the earth. As it descends, you are hit in the head by something. You look down to see a grasshopper-like insect perched on the ground. Then you are hit again and again. Soon you are being pelted from all sides as hundreds, then thousands, then millions of locusts land in the fields around you. The noise is deafening as these bugs cover every surface for miles around. Hours later when the transient plague takes to the air again, there is nothing left in the field that hasn’t been devoured.

Sounds like a story out of ancient Egypt, but it is actually from modern Africa. What once was used to teach a stubborn pharaoh a lesson now is wreaking havoc in village after village. A swarm of locusts three times the size of New York City has been sweeping through the countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania, and others.[1] New York City is a little over 302 square miles, which means this black cloud at times grows to 900 square miles. A swarm just one-third the size of the current mass sweeping through Africa can eat as much food in one day as the combined populations of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.[2] Some of the affected areas already teeter on the edge of famine due to drought and political corruption. As a result, this infestation has the potential to bring disastrous consequences to the food supplies of tens of millions of people.

Where did this enormous swarm come from? “Off the coast of Yemen and Oman there is a desert region with no water and last year they got hit by torrential rainfall, then had two cyclones hit that very region,” said George Thomas, senior international correspondent for CBN News. “This is very unusual and those conditions gave rise and allowed these locusts to multiply by the millions.”[3] Not only have they moved west to Africa, but they have also traveled north and east to India, the Middle East, and China. Even Israel could find themselves dealing with a mass infestation in the next months.[4] But Africa remains the place of greatest concern. Rains are expected to continue, creating conditions that could see this already-devastating mass grow 500 times its current size by June.[5]

The prophet Joel wrote about the shock and devastation felt in the aftermath of a locust invasion. “Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten” (Joel 1:2-4). Imagine all your crops—everything you had to sustain you and your family—devoured in a matter of hours. When the cloud takes to the air, all that is left is dirt and a few dangling stalks.

Currently, the U.N. is seeking to coordinate an aerial pesticide offensive against the numerous swarms, even as they seek to meet the humanitarian needs of those coping with the aftereffects of a locust visitation.[6] The church needs to remain aware of the paths of these numerous insect clouds so that we can remain in prayer. Also, as God’s people, we need to be ready if and when he calls us to reach out with his love and provision to those who find themselves in desperate need.

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[1] Tzvi Joffre, “Bible Coming to Life? Locusts ‘Plague’ Middle East, Asia, Africa,” Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, February 20, 2020, www.jpost.com/International/Bible-coming-to-life-Locusts-plague-Middle-East-Asia-Africa-618182.

[2] Qu Dongyu and Mark Lowcock, “A Humanitarian Crisis Looms in Africa Unless We Act Fast to Stop the Desert Locust,” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, February 12, 2020, www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/12/a-humanitarian-crisis-looms-in-africa-unless-we-act-fast-to-stop-the-desert-locust.

[3] CBN News, “What Allowed Locusts to Multiply by the Millions? Plague Spreads Far Beyond Africa to Middle East, China.” CBN News, February 18, 2020, www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2020/february/what-allowed-locusts-to-multiply-by-the-millions-plague-spreads-far-beyond-africa-across-middle-east-to-china.

[4] Tzvi Joffre.

[5] CBN News.

[6] Qu and Lowcock.