I hate mosquitoes and all other blood sucking insects. The idea that something is latched onto me and sucking out my blood makes me shudder in disgust. If there is even one mosquito in my bedroom at night, I will stay awake until it is found and killed. So, this plague of ‘gnats’ (the Hebrew term generally refers to some kind of blood sucking insect, most probably mosquitos), to me seems like sheer hell. This plague is literally sucking the blood out of Egypt. This is worse than frogs for sure. Also, at this point the Egyptian magicians are unable to duplicate what Moses brings upon the land and they recognise the hand of God. This is significant. The very people whose job it was to uphold the pagan religion of Egypt are forced to admit that Moses’ God is greater than theirs. They may have believed that previous plagues had been the result of some trick like their duplicates but now they see that this is not the case. Pharaoh is now the only person in this scene who refuses to acknowledge God’s authority and power. This story reminds me that we don’t need to try to prove to people that God is real. God will reveal himself to whoever he chooses. Our job is to pray and ask God to show himself to the people around us and be ready to be used by God to bear witness to him.
Pray that God would reveal himself to those around you who do not believe in him.
Read Exodus 8:16-19
