The swarm of flies sent by the Lord was one of the ways in which Pharaoh was punished for refusing to let the Israelites worship the Lord. It must have been a terrible experience because the house fly is a nasty pest and a carrier of diseases, as we learned last week.
But not all flies are filthy and harmful, and many species are actually helpful. One of these has a long name - larvavaridea, also called the flying hedgehog. Its activities are entirely different from the house fly, but they look alike and are frequently killed as a result.
The flying hedgehog has clean habits and does not visit the filthy places preferred by its cousins. Unlike the house fly, it does not lay eggs but gives birth to live maggots. These are laid on leaves of plants that are eaten by caterpillars. The maggot is so tiny that the caterpillar does not see it and swallows it when eating the leaf. Unharmed, the maggot passes into the caterpillar and eats its tissues, finally killing it. The maggot soon transforms into an adult fly and is ready to produce more of its kind. As an adult it is no hazard to people’s health. Its food is not decayed matter and garbage which the house fly walks through and eats. Instead, it eats the nectar of flowers. As it gathers this nectar, it helps in the pollination of flowers and fruits by transferring pollen from one plant to another.
Another good fly, but with a bad-sounding name, is called the robber fly. It has spiny legs and a sharp beak. Perching on a stone or piece of wood until an insect comes along, it suddenly darts out and catches it in its hairy legs. Then it carries the insect back to its perch to eat. There are more than 5000 kinds of robber flies throughout the world, and all help mankind by destroying harmful insects.
Another interesting fly is the ichneumon, a very small fly. The female has a long ovipositor on the end of her abdomen. Using this, she pierces aphids and lays her eggs inside. When the eggs hatch out, the little grubs eat the aphid. They are also destroyers of the harmful horntail fly, which kills trees by tunneling in them. The ichneumon can locate a horntail burrow under several inches of wood, and with her ovipositor she pierces the wood and lays her eggs near the horntail larvae. The little grubs find and eat the horntail larvae.
There are many other “good” flies. How they destroy harmful pests is another evidence of God’s goodness in keeping mankind from being overwhelmed by bad flies.
But He is good to us in even more important ways than this. We are told in Joel 2:1313And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. (Joel 2:13), “Turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful.” In Romans 2:44Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Romans 2:4) we are warned not to despise “the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” Yes, the Saviour wants you to find out and see that He is good. Will you come to Him today?
JANUARY 5, 1997
ML-01/05/1997