One of the certainties of summer in Saskatchewan is mosquitoes. This provincial pest, it seems, is as much a matter of discussion in our prairie culture as are the seasonal crops, walleye fishing and deer hunting. I sometimes wonder whether or not we should have nominated the mosquito as our official provincial symbol.

I still remember my first experience with the prairie mosquito when candidating for a Saskatchewan country church. My family was invited to a welcome barbecue and for most of that afternoon the mosquitoes had not been a problem. Later in the evening we received a little rain and had I not know better, I would have contended that it had poured mosquitoes, not water. My family felt like we were in some kind of special test like you see on TV for insect repellents, only we were without our Deep Woods Off.

I am told that there are 2500 species of mosquitoes in the world and some 70 in Canada. Dr. Aylward Downe, a professor who has studied mosquitoes for 30 years at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, states that in Canada, Saskatchewan has one of the worst infestations of them.1

Our oldest son, Thomas, once asked me why God created mosquitoes. Not having an adequate answer, my initial inclination was to tell him that God's ways were not our ways and His thoughts were not our thoughts but I ended up telling him that they were created as food for other insects and birds hoping that perhaps it would quench his query.

On a more serious note, because mosquitoes are such annoying creatures they offer us a valuable lesson about something else that is even more malevolent, increasingly more irritating and abundantly more miserable -- sin. What is "sin"? Simply put, sin is two things. It is, on the one hand, a spiritual disease that every person is born with. In essence, this 'inherited' spiritual disease gives us a desire to reject God. On the other hand, sin is an act that we commit by violating God's laws like lying, stealing, envy, and so on. It is this aspect of the nature of sin where the mosquito can offer the Christian some helpful insights.

This spring, it was my intention to contrast our four-legged provincial pest, the mosquito, and sin, in order to provide a fresh approach to understanding the nature of sin. What I learned was that this flying insect can teach believers some spiritual lessons about sin. I want to caution you at the outset, however, that this contrast is not perfect or exhaustive, nor does it encompass the full scope of the nature and consequences of sin as laid out in Scripture. And yet, there are some significant points to ponder in this exercise. Let me share with you what I discovered:

Mosquitoes & Sin

1. They both hatch out of certain conditions

We all know that the mosquito thrives in certain conditions in Saskatchewan. Mix together warm temperatures, moist soil or a stagnant pool of water and you have the perfect environment for these pesky critters to hatch and thrive.

When it comes to sin, the Bible describes the conditions under which it hatches and thrives in the lives of people. The Lord's brother, James, writes, "...each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin ....(James 1:14-15a)."