I hate insects. Gnats can actually ruin a
picnic! Aside from their itchy bites, gnats lodge themselves in your eyes and
persist in buzzing around your head when you are trying to play badminton.
Mosquitoes hide out in bushes and grasses just waiting for
unsuspecting victims to stand still for five seconds. Stinging yellow jackets
hole up in the ground where bare feet trod, unaware. And woe to those who drive
at night—swarms of gutsy bugs commit hari-kari on car windows and headlights.
I can see why God chose insects—gnats, flies and locusts, as plagues upon the Egyptians when they refused to free the Israelites from enslavement. He wanted them to change their minds and was willing to allow them to suffer these hordes of bugs to try and convince them to change. (Exodus 8 and 10) That would certainly wear me down.
At times, circumstances in our lives can seem like a cloud
of annoying, biting, stinging insects—an exasperating co-worker who isn’t going
away any time soon, a chronic health issue that must be accepted, a child who
is pushing every last one of our buttons, a series of minor financial set-backs
(a frig on the fritz, car repairs, a tooth that needs pulled) that won’t let us
get ahead of our debt, etc., etc.
Is it even possible for something good to come of those
things that bug us? Could God be using them to reveal attitudes or actions that
need adjusted, like the Pharoah’s? Or character traits that could use some
bolstering? Or, dare I say it, sins that require repentance?
Even bugs have their usefulness—bees pollinate, gnats
transport nutrients between plants, mosquitoes provide food for bats and birds.
So, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that God allows those situations
that bug us in order to mold and make us into better Christians.
Perhaps that annoying co-worker could actually help us
cultivate patience. And those pesky financial set-backs might teach us how to
be a better steward of all God has given us.
If God can find a
use for fleas, wouldn't you agree that He can use even our most frustrating annoyances to bring
about His purpose?
Be encouraged!
©2019 Pamela D. Williams
writepam71@gmail.com
