You can smell it before you see it — that sour-sweet reminder that something has gone soft behind the fridge. Or maybe it’s the compost bin you forgot to empty. Either way, it’s not just gross… it’s active.

But if you step back — maybe plug your nose first — something beautiful is happening.

Decay doesn’t mean defeat. It’s actually the beginning of renewal.

All across creation, Jehovah designed small, tireless workers to carry out one of the most humbling jobs in existence: breaking things down. Maggots, beetles, worms, and even flies — they move in when everyone else moves out. Their mission? To transform what looks like loss into life.

Take the dung beetle. Most people picture them somewhere in Africa, rolling a ball of elephant dung across the savanna. That’s the image I had for years. But they’re not just out there — they’re everywhere. I only learned this recently: dung beetles live on every continent except Antarctica. They clean up after cows in Australia, help fertilize fields in Texas, and do their part in your own backyard — if you’ll let them. Farmers worldwide are grateful. Without dung beetles, pastures would be unusable and disease would run rampant.

But Jehovah didn’t stop at cow pies and compost. He equipped some insects with an even more astonishing ability: to tackle toxic waste.

Scientists at Wageningen University have studied the black soldier fly larva for years. These larvae don’t just handle leftovers — they thrive on manure laced with antibiotics, food waste contaminated with heavy metals, and even certain petroleum byproducts. Their bodies don’t hoard the toxins. Instead, they pass through, break down, or safely lock them away. In other words, they cleanse.

Who else but Jehovah would build purifiers… into larvae?

Most of us wouldn’t touch these insects, never mind thank them. But their digestive systems — and the microbes living inside them — are doing environmental damage control on a scale we’re only beginning to understand.

Some researchers are even exploring how to use these insects to reduce pathogens in human waste — bringing dignity and sanitation to regions with limited infrastructure.

Why design a creature for a place we’d never willingly go?

Why build in beauty that works best in decay?

Maybe because Jehovah sees value where we see mess.

Maybe because He knows that not everything rotten is ruined.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 reminds us that “all are from the dust, and all are returning to the dust.” That’s not a punishment — it’s a process. And He’s designed that process with renewal in mind.

The things we want to throw away — the spoiled, the stinking, the spent — are often just waiting to be made useful again. Not everything that breaks down is breaking apart. Sometimes it’s breaking open.

So the next time you wrinkle your nose at the compost bin or sidestep something crawling in the soil, maybe ask:

What else have I dismissed because it made me uncomfortable?

And what if Jehovah still sees purpose there?