The leech has two daughters.  "Give! Give!" they cry.  There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, "Enough!":  the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, "Enough!" (Proverbs 30:15-16).

Death has a voracious appetite, like a binge eater who has just gotten her first taste of decadence.  Instead of being sated, her hunger only grows stronger and stronger until she whips herself into a feeding frenzy.  In early life, even until one's 20s, death is a rare and unusual occurrence -- something reserved for distant relatives.  But as middle age approaches, the number of fallen comrades increases, and the losses hit closer and closer to home.  If one manages to survive to old age, the passing of loved ones becomes a firestorm consuming parents, spouses, children, friends.  It never stops.  Death never has enough.  It's all binge and no purge.

Often, a couple will start out their life together in a state of blissful childlessness.  But with time and the ticking of biological clocks, blissful childlessness eventually becomes a sense of wondering, wishing, and vaguely hoping.  Vague hope eventually becomes true desire and willful neglect of any kind of prevention.  If nothing happens at this stage, lack of prevention evolves to "trying," waiting and watching the calendar and worrying about ovulation cycles.  If trying doesn't work, professional medical consultation is sought out.  And if professional medical consultation yields nothing, then the only thing left is hoping for a miracle.  But over time, even hope is consumed by the ache of an empty womb.  Marriages are strained.  One's sense of identity is marred.  It's a brutal experience that never lets up.  The insatiability of the barren womb is unbearable.

Modern science, technology, and agricultural systems have come a long way in solving many of the problems that have plagued farmers for millenia... but rainfall remains one of the most obstinate barriers to agriculture, world-wide.  It cannot be predicted, and we cannot live without it.  During a long summer drought, everyone watches and waits -- yearning for any sign of oncoming precipitation.  But even once a rain shower passes through, that's not the end of the problem.  In a few more days, more rain will be needed.  Because the land is never satisfied; it never has enough.  It's completely dependent on water to sustain life and fertility.  A land in drought is a weary, desperate landscape.

Fires rage and rage as long as there is fuel left to burn.  Properly fueled and fed by a steady stream of oxygen, nothing can stand in the way of a fiery inferno.  Rome, London, Chicago... these great cities of the world's most advanced societies could do nothing to stop the hungry advance of flames, reducing them to smoldering ruins at one point.  Entire forests have been consumed by a simple spark and a puff of wind -- because a fire never has enough.  Like a murderous gunman on a shooting rampage, a fire doesn't stop until he's killed himself and everything around him.  The best we can do is attempt damage control and watch helplessly from the sidelines as the fire does his work.

These figures of insidious insatiability are disturbing.  They make us wonder about God's sovereignty and control.  But Jesus has declared himself to be the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), the means of spiritual rebirth (John 3:3-21), a fountain of living water (John 7:37-38), and our savior -- rescuing us from any flames threatening to destroy us (John 4:42).  The insatiability of evil points to our need for God, a stronger point of salvation, even as these leeches tug at us from every side.  They'll never have enough, but if we put our faith in God, we have more than enough.