I came across a lesson series on the concept of ‘What Bugs God?’ that I wrote and presented in our Children’s Church in Northwest Indiana where we Pastored for nineteen years. I believe that sometimes we as adults overthink and overcomplicate things. If we could learn the principles of the Word of God in simple terms, take them at face value and learn how to apply them, we would be much further along in our Christian Walk. We are called to be ‘as’ little children when it comes to our faith. We see this in Matthew 18:1-5 which says, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.” For brevities sake, I will only share a few excerpts here and possibly share more in another article.
Pixar Animation Studios released its second feature-length film, an animated comedy, called ‘A Bug’s Life’ in 1998, with Toy Story being the first in 1995. Wikipedia tells us, “In the film, a misfit ant named Flik looks for “tough warriors” to save his ant colony from a protection racket run by a gang of grasshoppers. However, the “warriors” he brings back are a troupe of Circus Bugs. The film’s plot was initially inspired by Aesop’s fable The Ant and the Grasshopper…The ants in the film were redesigned to be more appealing, and Pixar’s animation unit employed technical innovations in computer animation.” There was never an animated sequel produced, though there were many requests for one, however, coming to the big screen in November 14, 2025, there will be, though it is also advertised as a ‘stand-alone’ movie. “The movie will focus on Dot, who is now a teenager, who is determined that she is not afraid to fight back. But an older Flik worries about the new dangers, which are a family of wasps planning to rule over their home, by their ruthless leader, Stingy the Wasp. Dot tries to find help and looks for “tough warriors” like Flik did in the original, but all she brings back were a troupe of comedian bugs.” However, this movie will be showing footage of real bugs, magnified to show them up close and personal, if you will. A simple thought, yet so profound is, that Creation is truly magnificent and can speak to us if we will let it!
Firstly, passivism about the kingdom of God is not something that pleases God, in fact it probably really bugs him. Determination and initiative-taking behavior, on the other hand, are very pleasing to him. He commands us to go. In Mark 16:15 Jesus told his disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In Matthew 11:12 he told them, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Though Jesus was a loving, kind, longsuffering, and compassionate man, we must not mistake meekness for weakness, nor longsuffering and love for tolerance to sin. We see him actively cleansing the temple in Matthew 21:12-13 which says, “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Jesus was no passivist.
Proverbs 30:28 tells us, “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Because the spider is active, she will make her way into any place she thinks is suitable for a home to have her babies and she will build her web. There are over forty thousand species of spiders worldwide, all having eight legs. It is said that they can see things that humans cannot. They spin silk webs that help them travel, spin their webs, and capture their prey. The spider may be just a lowly arachnid, yet there are hundreds of fun facts recorded by researchers about them. Because of their determination and tenacity, they can live in the best of places, as the scripture says, even in palaces.
There is a story in the Old Testament about a young woman named Ruth. The story of Ruth in a book bearing her name is only four chapters long, but it is a story of determination and proactive behavior, not passivism. The story begins this way, “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.”
As the story progresses, Naomi’s sons also die, and she is left with only her two daughters-in-law. The famine that was in Naomi’s homeland was over, and she wanted to return home, and encouraged the two women to do the same, so they could remarry. Orpah immediately jumped at the opportunity; however, Ruth would not hear of it, and long story short, ended up accompanying Naomi her mother-in-law, back to her homeland, sought out, and found a husband for herself, named Boaz, became the mother of his child, named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father to King David. She was from a heathen nation, but because of her determination, and pro-action in embracing Naomi and her God, we find her in the lineage of David, which by extension is the lineage of Jesus Christ. Of whom we read in Matthew 1:30-33, “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” What an example and encouragement the story of a simple, foreign, young woman named Ruth is to us all!
Secondly, quarrelling bugs God. Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Philippians 2:13-15 tells us, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, amid a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Amos 3:3 gives us a rhetorical question, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” And Jesus said it this way in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” To live in peace, we must put aside our murmuring, complaining, and quarrelling.
The maggot is an example of a quarrelling, discontented creature. They are the offspring of flies which first hatch as maggot larvae, with a major appetite. They only remain in this state for about ten days; therefore, they are clawing and eating everything in sight with the hooks found in the front of their mouths, so they can grow and flourish in that time. They eat rotting flesh and are such voracious eaters that they will even eat other maggots who have been injured and are up for grabs. Much research has been done to show that maggots can be used to help bring healing to those who have wounds that will not heal, when placed in the right environment, where they do not have to scratch and claw for their meal. They will just literally eat the rotten flesh and leave the good alone. You have heard the expression, “It’s a dog eat dog world.” This is used to describe a situation in which people will do anything to be successful, even if what they do harms others. This bugs God.
On the other side of the coin, Isaiah 11:1-10 tells us what pleases God. He declares a prophecy of the last days and refers to Jesus. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isaiah stated later in chapter 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.”
Thirdly, every living thing that God created he made to procreate and produce after its own kind. Unfruitfulness and barrenness, bugs God. We see in creation in Genesis 1:11-12 ,21, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” One of the first things he told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden we can read in Genesis 1:28, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God desires His creation to flourish. If there is no reproduction, we will all die off eventually, physically, and spiritually.
We can see this lesson from a simple earthworm. They are invertebrates, and though there are only around one hundred and fifty species widely known, there are over seven thousand species. The longest earthworm to date, was found in 1967 in South Africa, measuring twenty-one feet in length. They have a slow metabolism and are cold-blooded creatures. They can absorb oxygen from water which allows them to stay alive under water for months at a time. They only surface when it rains because they can travel better on wet surfaces, and to scavenge for food, not because they are afraid of drowning. They do not have eyes, and communicate with one another through touch, and tend to make group decisions for the good of the whole. They are soil engineers, helping keep the soil aerated, which allows plants to stay healthy and continue growing. If they are cut anywhere on the lower part of their bodies, they can regenerate and regrow the lost segments. We are not able to produce by parthenogenesis as they are, neither physically nor spiritually, yet the crazy fact about earthworms remains, that it is their mission to reproduce regardless of outside sources.
Mark 11:11-14 tells this story, “And Jesus entered Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it.” Even though it was not fig season, it still bugged Jesus, that the fig tree had no figs on it. He showed similar discontentment in the parable he told regarding the talents in Matthew 25. All but the one servant, doubled the talents they had received, and the master said to the slothful one upon his return, in verse 27, “Thou ought therefore to have (at least) put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.”
In the Old Testament we see how God healed Sarah of her barrenness so she could produce the promised son Isaac, to Abraham, through whom the redemption of his people would come. He opened Rachel’s barren womb so she could birth Joseph, who saved the very lives of Gods’ people during the famine in the land. He opened the womb of Manoah’s wife, who bore Samson who delivered the people out of the hands of the Philistines. He healed Elizabeth of her barrenness in her old age to produce John the Baptist the forerunner of Jesus, so that prophecy could be fulfilled.
Psalms 113 says, “Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”
He wants the New Testament church to be fruitful, and productive. John 15:16 says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” And Psalm 126:6 gives this promise, “He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Fourthly, division really bugs God. We must strive to maintain unity in the body of Christ. This is pleasing unto the Lord. Romans 16:17-18 admonishes, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” This verse indicates to us the selfishness of those who are contrary and always being divisive. Selfishness is the opposite of love and unity.
Proverbs 30:27 tells us, “The locusts have no king; yet go they forth all of them by bands.” The locust is a part of the Acrididae family and has gained notoriety for the widespread devastation they cause with their destructive behavior. They are voracious eaters and as such can eat their weight in vegetation daily. They show up in swarms of billions which can stretch for miles, wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. The female can lay over a hundred eggs at a time, which adds to this dilemma. They have an extensive ability to migrate and can even cross oceans.
Pesticides and biological control agents are used to endeavor to control the locust population, and systems are used to try to monitor signs of swarms approaching. Chemical signals called pheromones are used to communicate in the locust world, allowing them to coordinate their swarming activities. Environment can also play a part in their behavior. Let us just say that locusts are not farmers’ best friend; however, though they are known as destructive pests, they are an important source of food for both humans and animals in certain parts of the world. We see from the scripture that following orders or having authority over them is not the locust’s way.
As we mentioned previously, God had told his people to go forth and replenish the earth and be fruitful, and that is what they had begun to do, until they thought they had a better idea than God. Genesis 11:1 says, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” They decided that they would stop in the plains of Shinar and build themselves a city and a tower to the heavens, so that they would not be scattered upon the face of the earth, verse four states. However, that was exactly what God wanted them to do. When we begin to have our own ideas, one mind, one language, one speech and one accord, go out the window and division is at the door. When we walk out from under the authority that has been placed over us, we become a God unto ourselves. This bugs God and will not be beneficial to us overall.
In Genesis 11:5-9 we see God having to remind them of what His plan was. “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So, the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore, is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” They could have had unity and continued replenishing the earth with one language and speech, yet they decided they did not want to follow Gods’ instructions. So, they were scattered abroad, but with chaos and division rather than a unified mindset.
David put it beautifully in Psalm 133, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:1-6, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
There is only one body of Christ, and we as the members must work together in unity for it to be effective, efficient, and productive. In 1 Corinthians 12:14-18, Paul gives us a comical twist to this equation. “For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” We can see the ludicracy of Paul’s rhetorical questions.
In Ephesians 4:11-15 Paul continues, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” We must avoid those who always think they have a better idea than God, because not only does it bug God, but it is divisive, and it will end up destroying their eternal salvation as well as those around them.
Well, we have covered four things that bug God, and there are more to come, but let us recap on these: passivism, quarrelling, barrenness and division. Firstly, we must be proactive in the kingdom of God, as a spider is in spinning its web diligently. We must not sit around on our laurels waiting for things to come to us, or for others to get the job done. Jesus said in John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Secondly, we must set aside our differences and argumentative spirit and not be as the discontent maggot who feasts on rotten flesh, or one another in a heartbeat. We must seek to be peacemakers and be like our Prince of Peace. Thirdly, we should ask God to increase our wisdom as James admonished us, and to heal us of our barrenness and be productive at all costs as we saw from the example of the earthworm. Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.” Fourthly, we must refrain from bringing division and learn to set aside our own ideas. God always knows best. Division is as a swarm of locusts destroying anything and everything in its path. We must seek to build unity among the brethren, seeking to be made perfect unto the stature of Jesus Christ as Paul said in Ephesians. We all have things that bug us but let us try to stay off the list of, ‘What Bugs God,’ and try to please Him in all we do, in word and in deed, starting today.