Plague of Gnats

It says in Exodus 8:17 that "Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats." Another word used for gnats is lice. What ever the insect it came in a swarm and caused great irritation to both livestock and people.

And that is what a spiritual gnat is - a spirit of agitation.

In every day life we encounter things or people that can agitate us. Sometimes people tend to "buzz" around our space. They are in constant motion. They are restless and constantly find ways to interrupt. While we can manage some of these irritants what goes on in the heart is something else. Only God can help us. After a while those gnats of irritation can get under the skin and cause a bad reaction.

I can only "swat" away those irritations for so long before I feel overwhelmed. When someone has pushed my buttons or cross those unspoken lines more than once I find myself with a bad attitude. Sometimes I get outright rude and angry.

What followed the plague of gnats was a plague of flies. Recall that Satan is called Beelzebub, the prince of demons, also called the lord of the flies (first mentioned in 2Kings 1:2-3,6,16, also Luke 11:15). Beloved, small things matter. A slight irritation if not brought under the Lordship of Christ can be an invitation to a larger more demonic invasion of black flies - carriers of disease and illness. It's been noted that house flies are strongly suspected of transmitting at least 65 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, yaws, anthrax, tularemia, leprosy and tuberculosis (Penn State College of Agricultural Studies).

We have a choice to make. Just as God made a clear distinction between His people and the Egyptians (Exodus 8:23) to the impact of the plagues so too we must choose forgiveness. We must choose life. Otherwise, we will needlessly suffer and our spiritual life will wither on the Vine.

It is not easy to make a choice of releasing an offense or carrying it. But that is why we need His grace to pray. Grace to walk away rather than asserting our rights.

Greater strength and healing is ours when we leave the injustice to a just God.