I wrote this post not long after Hurricane Katrina. It seemed our area was plagued with lovebugs (worse than usual) and I hypothesized that it was somehow related to the storm. I’m not sure if that was scientific or not, but I know this past September we didn’t have nearly the trouble with them….

Hope you enjoy.

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I despise lovebugs.

Hideous, evil, horrid creatures!

If you live in the south you probably share my loathing for this annoying, wretched arthropod. Lovebugs plague this area every year in May and then again in September….

…but this year…this year…they seem to be worse than ever! At first, I thought it was just my house. I’ve only lived here since July, so I missed the May viewing of these perpeturally mating creatons. But I do know lovebugs are quite attracted to the color white (we learned this a few years ago at my good friend’s outdoor, May wedding!) and my house is very white…inside and out!

I am foreseeing two months out of every year dedicated to the destruction of these pests when my mother informs me that they are worse than ever at her house as well. Then I hear everyone else complaining about how excessive our lovebug problem has become this year. It seems that massive amounts of lovebugs have taken residence on/in everyone’s homes/vehicles.

Come to find out, this lovely little plague is just one more of the many blessings of Katrina. Somehow the storm has multiplied our usual problem to epic proportions. Thank you Katrina.

While slapping lovebugs away from my face I have to wonder about Pharoh and his hard heart. I really don’t understand him at all. After this month of sharing my dwelling with millions upon millions of creepy black creatures with bulging red eyes I feel as if I must be going through an Egyptian plague. I mean this plague alone would render me to take on the building of pyramids unaided just after I packed up thousands of slaves with whatever they needed to be on their way…

Or so I rather like to think. I mean, it’s pretty easy to point fingers and say I would have done things differently.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not taking up for Pharoh…I just want to examine how we humans are given chance after chance to make the right choice and how we seem to go through anything to keep from doing the right thing. I know I do anyway.

What is it about us that likes to act like we are in control. Or that we can handle things ourselves. We can handle a “little bit” of sin. We can control our own lives. We hang on with our teeth to our sin…grasping for contol while a plague free life awaits us if we just obey God’s commands!

How many times did God show Pharoh signs and wonders-and plagues-for him to only harden his heart and refuse to heed God’s warnings? What was so difficult about obedience? I mean it seems like the obvious solution would have been to obey and stop the plagues that basically ruined Egypt and hurt so many of Pharoh’s people.

Pharoh saw God’s representatives turn a staff to a snake…and his heart was hardened.

Exodus 7:13

Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

…and then there was the Nile turned to blood. Yet Pharoh’s heart was hardened again.

Exodus 7:22

But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Then frogs. Everywhere. In ovens and beds… *shudder* And Pharoh’s heart is hardened…

Exodus 8:15

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

And the lice. Ew. Yet Pharoh’s heart is hardened once again.

Exodus 8:19

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ” This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Has Pharoh given up yet? Is he willing to obey God? Or does he still cling to the idea that he can control things?

As if the lice were not bad enough! Now there are plagues of flies. And Pharoh still hardens his heart!

Exodus 8:32

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

Sounding like a broken record yet? Well, believe it or not its not over.

The next plague is against the cattle. They are all dying. And Pharoh still hardens his heart. He does not obey God.

Exodus 9:7

Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

And next the entire population of Egypt is covered with painful boils. Does Pharoh relent?

Exodus 9:12

And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.

And hail and fire destroys the crops of Egypt. And Pharoh still refuses to obey God.

Exodus 9:34-35

But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

Then the locusts come. If any crops survived the hail and fire…well, needless to say after the locusts the cannot be much left. And Pharoh, getting quite predictable now, still refuses to obey God.

Exodus 10:20

But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.

Next is the plague of darkness. Darkness covers the land and the sun does not shine. And Pharoh still hardens his heart to God’s instruction.

Exodus 10:27

But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

If Pharoh has hardened his heart to the destruction of his kingdom and his people, what is it going to take to get him to obey God’s command. What extreme will be next. I cannot help but wonder if Pharoh really thought all these plagues would stop. That if he could just survive one more that there would be no others. So far, he has hardened his heart to nine different plagues…none of them too terribly pleasant. Many causing the loss of homes, livlihood and even causing death. Did he really think the consequences would stop?

You would think he’d been given plenty warning that bad stuff was to follow disobedience to the one true God. Yet…he clenches his teeth and refuses to relent…only to have the last and most horrific plague follow because of his stubborn pride.

His son…his firstborn…his heir…is sacrificed for his disobedience. As well as the firstborn of everyone in his kingdom (those who did not obey God’s strict orders) including the livestock.

Exodus 12:29-30

Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

…and all because Pharoh refused to obey.

I know I have a strong tendancy to be stubborn and disobedient. I don’t always follow God’s instructions. I want to do things Bethany’s way. And I repeatedly fall into sin…even when I know disobedience has consequences.

It seems that for some reason I think that this time I will be spared the consequences. Yet, that never happens. I finally relent. But I’m still faced with the consequences. I say, “Okay, God. I’ll do it your way.”

Then my heart is hardened and I fall into the same or similar sins. I hang on with my teeth to control of my life only to find it in complete chaos. In the midst of a terrible plague…one I could have prevented had I had the sense to obey God.

What is it about me, about us humans, that makes us want to sin-even when we know there are consequences?

I guess I feel like Paul.

Romans 7:14-25

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold intobondage to sin.For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Thank goodness for God’s unending mercy and forgiveness.