One of my neighbors is a mechanical genius – he can fix anything. The secret to his success is that he has a tool for every situation. It is one thing to have a tool, and another to know how to find it. When he needs a screw with a special design, width, and length, he can go to a drawer full of screws and a tool rack full of screwdrivers and have exactly what he needs to do the job. Insects are God’s tools.
Recent studies have shown that scientists have vastly undercounted insect species. Entomologist Laura Melissa Guzman of Cornell University, writing in Science News, says that previous insect species counts of six million are way too low and that the actual count is at least 14 million species and may be as high as 20 million.
The question is why so many species exist, and the reason is that insects are God’s tools to sustain life on planet Earth. Insects serve in many ways. For example, flowers must be pollinated to produce seeds that will grow into new flowers. To pollinate flowers of various sizes and shapes, insects of various sizes and shapes are God’s tools for that purpose. While some insects have particular jobs, others help control insect populations. Scientists have identified over 2,400 species of parasitoid wasps that do this.
Like my neighbor, who has the right tool for every situation, insects are God’s tools for every situation. Guzman writes, “It’s humbling how much we don’t know and how much we have left to know.” Everywhere we look in the world, we see a wonder-working hand has gone before. Insects are another of the things God has created to enable life to exist on our planet.
— John N. Clayton © 2026
Reference: Science News, September 2026, page 26