The Flies Are Coming! Series

The Flies are Coming!

Exodus 8:20-32

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.

- As we go through this study, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last time, we looked at the third plague, the plague of lice, and saw that God’s Mighty hand was at work.

- We saw that God can do things the way He wants to, God can use even the smallest of things, and God can make the enemy powerless.

- This was evident as the magicians attempted to copy the plague by conjuring up some lice of their own, but they couldn’t because God made them powerless.

- Today, we’re going to look at the fourth plague, the plague of flies.

- When I was a kid, I liked to go exploring outside.

- My brother and I found this cool tunnel that was a long pipe used for irrigation, and we’d crawl through it when the water wasn’t flowing from it.

- One day, we decided that we were going to follow the irrigation ditch at the other end of the pipe and see where it went.

- It led us out into a big field where there were cattle.

- We thought we were being so adventurous and so we followed this ditch for a while.

- Then, we came to a spot where there was a big hump in the water.

- We weren’t sure what it was, so we got closer, and the closer we got, the more we noticed there were a bunch of flies swarming in the area, and the smell wasn’t so nice.

- When we got close enough to it, we realized that it was a dead cow, rotting away right smack dab in the middle of that irrigation ditch.

- Well, it scared the living daylights out of us, so we ran away and didn’t go back for a while, but I remember all those flies, and how loud they were, and what a nuisance they were as we were trying to figure out what animal it was.

- They were all over the carcass of the cow, and they were buzzing all around him.

- Of course, flies love to congregate around stinky, rotting things, like trash, or dead animals…

- And I don’t know of anyone who likes being around a bunch of flies.

- In the passage today, we find God choosing to use that pesky little insect, the fly, for His purposes as He continues to pour out His judgment on Egypt.

- So let’s look at three things about Pharaoh’s reaction and response to these swarms of flies.

I. Pharaoh was warned- Vs 20-23

- In our world, there are a lot of warning signs…

- Everything from traffic -signs to the warning statement printed on your coffee cup about how hot it is…

- Warnings are all around us, and they’re there for the purpose of protecting us from danger or physical harm.

- We can choose to pay attention to the warnings or we can disregard them, and when we disregard them, there are usually consequences.

- For example, years ago, my mother and I were driving to Machias.

- I had just gotten my license, and my father had just gotten a new truck, so of course I wanted to drive.

- So we’re driving on Route 191, but it was in the winter, and had snowed the day before, so the road was very slippery and there was a lot of slush.

- Well, the speed limit on 191 is 50 mph, and the vehicle in front of me was going about 45.

- So I thought I could just follow behind him, doing the same speed as him, and I’d be fine.

- Well I’m driving along when all of a sudden, I notice a light come on the dashboard and it started beeping.

- It was an orange light, with a picture of a car skidding.

- That meant the traction control system had activated because the road was slippery, and I should probably slow down.

- Well, the light scared me so much that I overreacted and slammed the brakes…

- Unfortunately, the bed of my dad’s truck didn’t have any weight in it, so the truck fishtailed, and we slammed into the snowbank on the other side of the road and were stuck there for a while.

- So the warning light was telling me the road was slippery and I needed to slow down, but since I already felt the wheels slipping, I tried to do it the way I thought best, by slamming the brakes, and of course, that made things worse.

- When it comes to any kind of warning sign, some people ignore them, while others overreact when they see them, but either way, it doesn’t end well.