Come Fly With Me

Exodus 8: 20-32


So God tells Moe to meet Pharaoh at the watering hole early one morning and threaten an infiltration of flies if he won't relent and let God's people go and worship. He tells him that God will differentiate between His people and the Egyptians- Israelites will be fly-free while the Egyptians will be longing for some of those frogs to relieve some of their insectitude.

Interesting that God spares his own people this time- and not the other times (apparently, since it seems to be a novel thing in this reading). Maybe the lesson here can help us deal with our own issues, traumas and plagues. When we experience annoying or even painful experiences, it may not be a test for us (rain falling on the just and unjust, etc) but maybe sometimes these pains are the results of someone else's test- someone else's poor decisions- someone else's failure. The short term results don't change (our car still gets wrecked, our friend still gets cancer, there sure are a lot flies in the backyard)- but maybe it helps us to cope knowing that these things aren't because of something we've done- or some judgment made at our expense.

Secondly, when we move in the right direction things often get worse before they get better. The Israelites went through a lot- much of it deserved- but some of their suffering wasn't a reflection of their own shortcomings- their insistence to go and worship actually caused much of it. If Moses had let this sleeping dog lie, at least short-term, they would have been spared some of these atrocities. But instead, before they reached the land of milk and honey (dairy queen?) they endured a lot.

So Pharaoh calls Moe and Aaron back and says- what say you guys just worship here? Reasonable compromise? But they'll have none of it- our sacrifices won't go over well with the locals...and we'd just as soon not get stoned.

Interesting here. In an era where many evangelicals see fit to cram their specific brand of religion (dairy queen?) down the throat of anyone who differs, the Israelites preferred to take their worship off privately- far from the view of those that would object. Yes, for their own safety- but if God could send plagues of flies, surely he could protect his worshippers from flying stones if He so chose.

Fine Moses- take your people and go to the desert- just don't go too far! So Moses prays for Pharaoh- interesting in and of itself- and the next day the flies are gone. But inexplicably, when the flies fly away, so does Pharaoh's grace. And he says- make your people stay.

I wonder at what point Moses and Aaron start to question the productiveness of this mission. Cool mireacles, but we aren't getting anywhere. Maybe the big point here is that things happen in God's time, not ours.