Locusts were the eighth of the 10 biblical plagues on ancient Egypt. Note that long before Israel's exodus from Egypt, locusts arrived by an east wind in a swarm so dense that "the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees.... So there remained nothing green on the trees or in the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt" (Exodus 10:15).

Locusts can be every bit as devastating today. In northeast China more than 19 million acres (8 million hectares) of land has been under attack. The Central Eurasian area of Russia is threatened. And, according to The Daily Mail, "Moscow's Emergency Situations Ministry says the locusts...are eating everything in their path."

While proportionally this present plague cannot be compared to the devastation wreaked on ancient Egypt, today's dire happenings should represent a wake-up call to our modern nations that shows how quickly devastation can strike. We need to get our spiritual houses in order (Psalm 50:23).

Sources: The Times, The Daily Mail [all London].