Crabs and Fleas
10:41 AM
I once heard someone explain how to catch and contain crabs and fleas. For crabs, putting a crab in a bucket with other crabs will ensure that it cannot climb out. As soon as the crab tries to escape, another crab underneath will reach up, pinch the climbing crab, and pull it back down into the bucket so that another crab can climb on top and begin its own ascent. The cycle repeats itself, and no crabs ever leave the bucket. For fleas, to keep them from jumping out of a jar, the jar is capped with a lid and then heated on the bottom so the fleas jump. Initially the fleas hit the lid; however, after only a few moments the fleas learn to jump slightly lower than the lid. Then, the lid can be removed and the fleas, despite the heat and their desire to escape, will never jump out of the jar.
The comparison to people, not intentionally demeaning, can be instructive. As Adam and Eve begin their family outside of the Garden of Eden, they teach their children to read, write, have faith, and repent. Despite their best efforts, however, “Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed; and a man’s hand was against his own brother, in administering death, because of secret works, seeking for power” (Moses 6:15.) In other words, people did what crabs do: they tore each other down so that they could claim power.
This behavior, as the prophet Enoch saw in vision, would only worsen causing God, Himself, to weep. Enoch asked God “How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” God replied with some of the saddest scripture that can be found: "Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood" (Moses 7:32-33.)
To paraphrase: Enoch, I created these people; they’re my children, and look at what they’re doing to each other!
As God had done so many times before, he called young Enoch to preach repentance and effect a return to righteousness. He was to tell the people of God’s anger, command them to repent, and foretell consequences should they continue their hatred. Enoch, as many a young prophet before and after him, felt inadequate to the task: “Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?” (Moses 6:31.) In other words, Enoch had, in some previous experience, jumped, like a flea, and hit his head often enough to pick up the view of himself that he was too young, too incapable, and too disliked to be of use.
How often do we pull others down today? How often do we pull ourselves down? How often do we pick up, either from others or from our own tragic experiences, the belief that we simply aren’t good enough to achieve anything above mediocrity or even misery?
To anyone who has ever felt what Enoch has, the Lord spoke
promises of power.
Questions
- Read Moses 6:32-39 – If these words were directed at you, which ones would have the most impact?
- Read Moses 7:44-47 – What was it that eventually lifted Enoch’s sadness from having witnessed so much hate and destruction?
- Read Moses 7:13, 16-21 – After noticing the results of Enoch’s preaching and the heaven-on-earth that came because of it, what might be done in your small corner of the world to build “Zion”?
- If focusing more on the Savior and less on the self creates “rejoicing” and combats the effects of crabs and fleas, what might you do to spend more time learning what God thinks instead of what man thinks?
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