Mike’s Musings … I Don’t Like Flies
Most consider flies to be nasty bugs, that bother us in the summertime, irritate us while we’re working, and ruin what otherwise is delicious eating. They bite, buzz, and are so agile that their lifespan nearly always exceeds our patience! Yet, they are God’s creatures! He had a reason for creating them. The first mention of them was to punish Egyptians. There are only eight times in Scripture where flies are mentioned: five describing the plague of flies upon the Egyptians, twice where the Psalmist reminds Israel of those facts, and once when Solomon makes this observation – “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.” (Eccl. 10:1) We note flies are never spoken of as being favorable, and thus their constant pestering of us merits our disdain!
No, I don’t know why God allowed flies to continue after using them to plague Egypt. Perhaps He uses them to teach us patience or to cause us to realize even small things can deter us from doing great things if we let them. Or it could be God uses them to humble us in some fashion. Who knows? But I still don’t like flies!
I muse on how much in common flies have with everything that “pesters” us and generates hostilities, anger, hatred, and from these negativities, further sins. While we swat at those pesky things, we seldom smack them on the first swing of the swatter. So, we keep trying, getting more and more pestered with every missed hit! Not until we calmly, deliberately, and with the precision of aim smack that pest to death are we freed from the aggravation of the fly! The same is true with any sin. We know all sin is wrong, but its smaller parts pester us until the problem increases and we sin more grievously (James 1: 13 – 16). Wouldn’t it be best to keep a swatter handy, take careful aim when the pest is attacking, and smack it to death before it can keep pestering?
No, I don’t like flies! And I don’t like sin, either! And when those pesky little things that nag at us start buzzing, it’s time to swat them dead, before they cause us to sin against God!