Butterfly Story
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10KJV
The very beginning of the butterfly’s life story starts with a little egg resting on foliage out in the wonders of nature. This tiny little egg eventually hatches into a colorful and voracious caterpillar that possesses a strong appetite for all that its life will afford it and so it both eats and grows incredibly fast. While growing, the caterpillar outgrows its skin, shedding it multiple times and exchanging one skin for another increasingly greater one that serves a specific purpose in each season of its life. When finished growing, the caterpillar develops a hard and dark shell called a chrysalis and then, its maker, God, requires it to be still and wait in this restricted and seemingly obscure environment. Only, this is not the end of life for the hungry caterpillar, but the beginning.
This temporary waiting period and environment that the caterpillar is placed into provides a hidden, protective, and purposeful season and it is within the confines of this chrysalis that the caterpillar submits to a process and experience that causes a significant and extensive change to come over it. A wonderful change begins to take place in the caterpillar’s life. Only in the beginning, the circumstances in which the caterpillar finds itself do not at all appear to be wonderful. Still and in spite of everything, this conversion, a metamorphosis, does occur. The change transforms the caterpillar into something altogether different and allows it to emerge as a butterfly. But before there is to be the emergence of a beautiful butterfly, the caterpillar has had to spend time unseen and restrained in this restrictive, hard shell for weeks, months or sometimes even years. And while confined in this hard place, the condition of the environment fluctuates, changing from dark to clear and back to dark again before the beautiful butterfly finally emerges out of dark and into the light of day.
In the new life of the Christian, one who has placed their faith in Jesus, there is also a wonderful butterfly story. We begin as babies in Christ with a tremendous hunger for all that our new life in Christ can offer and so we both crave and gladly feast on the word of God as we begin to experience noticeable life changing growth. Over time we develop, outgrowing certain behaviors and situations. We exchange one life for a greater life that is rooted in our submission to God and His word (Ephesians 4:14-15). As we experience growth; we do not think like we use to think, we do not look like we use to look and we do not do what we use to do. Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, we enter into the sanctification process of our salvation by which we are transformed, and set apart to be used by God for His purposes (2 Timothy 2:21).
Similar to the caterpillar’s time in the chrysalis, we too experience periods of time in which we are placed by God into the difficult unknown or even dark uncertain environments, but God means it for our good. These places of uncertainty are not our final destination, but only a part of our process. When we submit to God’s will in the midst of the process, a significant and extensive change takes place in our lives. The initial circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves do not at all appear to be wonderful. Still and in spite of everything, our conversion, a metamorphosis of sorts, transforms us into someone who is new, different and beautiful to God. So, as we learn to submit ourselves to staying within the boundaries of God’s process and timing, we will be subjected to and live through difficult periods of change. Still, we should make up our minds to trust and even believe that we will emerge out of the dark and into the light of day, transformed by God.
We can celebrate the caterpillar’s beautiful illustration of what God has challenged us as Believers to do in Psalm 46:10, when he says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Let us be still, wait on and glorify God, the living ruler of the universe, even as the fragile kingdoms of mankind erupt and tremble. God is still and forever will be perfect and sovereign, working things together for our good. We must resist the temptation to struggle to maintain an illusion of being in control of the process that is our life as God challenges us to surrender our lives to His plan and watch as He does exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever think or ask, through His power as He works in us even in the darkest situations (Ephesians 3:20).
By Sherlin Henderson Lewis