The Rev. Dr. Clay Smith: Flies

The flies on my cows are bad right now. On my bull, they are a thick blanket. I've got to get some fly dope on them to kill those flies.

Flies are bad for cattle. First, they annoy cattle. Annoyed cattle don't eat. Cattle that don't eat get skinny. That's not good. Milk production goes down. Calves don't grow as well. Horn flies suck blood through the hide. That's not good either. Cows, like humans, need all the blood they can get.

In the old days, cows would go through the dipping vat. The dipping vat was exactly that: a vat filled with diesel, insecticide and water. The cows would come down a lane and would be forced to jump in the vat. The insecticide would kill the flies and ticks. The cows would swim out (yes, cows can swim), head up, and walk up a shallow ramp.

Once, a newborn calf went into the dipping vat. It struggled to swim and looked like it would drown. My Uncle Dow jumped in, cradled the calf in his arms and swam it to the shallow ramp. Funny, Uncle Dow never was bothered by flies after that.

By the time I came along, we had switched to spraying the cows. My Uncle Earl would spray the diesel/insecticide mix on the cows as they ran back and forth in the pens. The flies would die or flee. Unfortunately, the fleeing flies would land on the horses and on the cowboys. We could spray the horses to give them relief, but we cowboys had to beat the flies off with our hats. The truth is, I've swallowed more than a pound of flies while the cows were being sprayed.

Now, we pour an insecticide directly on the back of the cows. It repels the flies and keeps them away. We also ear-tag the cows with a tag that drives the flies away. You must alternate the tags because the flies build up resistance. It is a constant struggle to keep ahead of the flies.

Interestingly, one of the ancient gods was named Baal. Baal was the god of the storm, god of rain. The farmers of the ancient world worshipped him because they needed the rain to grow their crops. But the rain also brought the flies. The people of God called Baal "Lord of the Flies," a term of disrespect.

When Pharaoh refused to let God's people go from slavery in Egypt, God sent a series of plagues to get his attention. The first plague turned the water of the Nile into blood. You would think Pharaoh would be impressed, but he wasn't. His own magicians did the same.

The second plague was a plague of frogs. People found frogs in their beds, all over their houses, in the ovens and mixing bowls. Again, Pharaoh was not impressed because his magicians were also able to produce frogs. It wasn't hard for them since frogs were already everywhere. All they had to do was scoop up some frogs and say to Pharaoh, "Look what we conjured up."

The third plague was gnats. Aaron stretched out his staff and struck the ground, and gnats covered Egypt. There were no insecticides. I imagine everything ground to a halt. Who can work when you are trying to wave flies away? When you lay down at night, the gnats were everywhere. When you ate your meals, the gnats covered your food. Just like cows, people were irritated, distracted and probably got sick.

This was the one that tripped the magicians up. When they struck the ground to bring forth gnats, all they brought up was dust. The magicians realized this was not a magic trick; this was a power they had not. They tried to warn Pharaoh. They told him, "This is the finger of God."

This is one of those funny, ironic moments in the scripture. The magicians were not impressed by turning the Nile to blood or by the plague of frogs. It was the flies that convinced them. I wonder if God smiled when they said, "This is the finger of God." Maybe God thought, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Pharaoh's heart was still hard. A better translation might be, "Pharaoh's heart was still closed." God was trying to send him a message. He refused to listen.

I wonder if God sends us messages, and we refuse to listen. Maybe, like Pharaoh, we think we still are in charge of our own little worlds, masters of our own domain. Or maybe God's messages don't fit our agenda. We think if we ignore them, we can thwart God's plans. Good luck with that. Or maybe we have developed selected deafness. We listen to God when it suits us and ignore him when we don't like the message.

Think how different Pharaoh's life would have been if he had listened to the message of the flies: "There is a God, and you are not him. Let his people go." Egypt would have been spared destruction. His son would not have died. And he would not have had to swallow any flies.

Pay attention to God's messages, even if they come in the form of flies.

The Rev. Dr. Clay Smith is the lead pastor of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter. Email him at claysmith@adbc.org.