Thoughts on Exodus 10

Today's reading: Exodus 10; 1 Corinthians 16

I know that, to one extent or another, this would apply to multiple of the plagues, but the plague of locusts is such an incredible example of just how good God is for His word.

Some of the plagues, like the hail, the boils, the darkness, etc. are more direct supernatural interventions, and while they certainly exhibit God's power, they could be done on a whim. I don't say that to make light of them, or to assume God did them flippantly, but to say that they don't necessarily take as much long-term planning.

But then there are the locusts...

When God has Moses stretch his hand out, an east wind brings the locusts into the land. This seems to indicate (though admittedly doesn't require) that God didn't just "poof" the locusts into existence for the sake of the plague, but that this was an existing swarm (or swarms) He brought into Egypt.

Last time I taught this passage I was curious about this and started doing some research on locust swarms (it's kind of fascinating to dive into if you like random rabbit holes to run down). Locusts take 20 years after the eggs are laid before they emerge from the ground, and then generally 4 weeks after they emerge before they mature into adults that can fly. That said, in order for an individual locust to mature enough to develop wings there has to be enough vegetation in the area they emerge for them to consume.

What this means is that God, knowing He would deliver His people, knowing when He would start the process, and knowing how it would go, "planted" this swarm of locusts (e.g. made the previous swarm that laid these eggs excessively fertile, increased survival rates, etc.) 20 years and 4 weeks ahead of when He would use them for this plague, and also ensured there would be sufficient vegetation growing when they did emerge for such a vast swarm to mature and develop wings (which would have been its own process of having sufficient rains, potentially adjusted eco-system, etc. to have the vegetation available).

Now clearly, for the God who can speak creation into existence, this isn't the least bit of a stretch, or even all that impressive compared to other things He has done. But why it sticks out to me is what it says about how trustworthy God is.

God had told Abraham, long before this plague, that his descendants would be slaves and mistreated in a foreign land 400 years, and after that he would bring them out and give them the land He promised to Abraham for a possession. So the Exodus wasn't God off busy with something else and realizing, when He came back, that His people were being mistreated. And it wasn't that God just wasn't all that concerned, but then things got bad enough He decided to finally do something about it. This was God keeping His promise to Abraham. This was God moving in history, before anybody knew He was acting, while the Israelites may very well have been wondering why He wasn't doing anything for them, to keep a promise He had made hundreds of years before.

If God is good for His word to Abraham, if He can be counted on to act and work as He has promised He would, even (and especially) when nobody is seeing what He's doing, then we can trust that He is good for the promises He has made to us as well.

Just because we don't see the locust swarm developing underground, waiting to emerge at the moment God intends, doesn't mean God isn't actively working to keep His promises.