“Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” Acts 4:2424And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: (Acts 4:24).
Of the 85,000 kinds of flies in the world, the most pesky and best known is the common House Fly. It has been called “the most dangerous insect in the United States,” because of the germs it spreads. Although I’m sure none of us like House Flies, let’s take a closer look and see what things the Creator has given them.
Starting from a tiny egg laid by a female fly, a white grub hatches. This grub grows rapidly and within a few days changes to a pupa and then into an adult fly. In proportion to its size, its eyes are huge, each eye having some 4,000 six-sided lenses to give it outstanding vision. (No wonder it’s so hard to sneak up on them!) Its body, made up of five segments, is covered on the underside with stiff hairs through which six hairy legs protrude. These hairs are always loaded with harmful bacteria (germs). Looking closely, we see that each leg ends with a combination of a tiny claw and a sticky pad, where more germs cling.
Did you ever wonder how a fly can walk as easily up a window as on a smooth table top? Or, how can it walk upside down on the ceiling? The claws help it get a grip on smooth surfaces, but it is the pads, coated with a sticky fluid, that enable it to climb or walk upside down without difficulty.
Then there are the amazing, balanced, transparent wings that move 330 times a second. As the wings move, rod-like structures, called halteres, vibrate at the same rate to give the fly its sense of balance. More than one-tenth of the fly’s weight is in the muscles that control its wings.
The House Fly multiplies rapidly. During her short, two-week lifetime a female will lay half a dozen clusters of 100 to 150 eggs each. If every egg became a fly and none were destroyed, it has been calculated that within four months the descendants of a single pair of flies would cover the earth! But God does not allow them to reach so great a number, keeping them under control with many enemies. In addition to people who swat them with a fly swatter, they have many other enemies—spiders, hornets, frogs, birds, mites and parasites, all keeping them under control.
When the Lord God created the first flies they were in no way harmful. But when sin came into the world, He allowed them to have their present bad habits as a reminder that “the wages of sin is death,” and they became one of the ways by which death-resulting diseases are spread. In a future time all will be restored to order again, and these insects will no longer be harmful. That time will be after the Lord takes all who love Him into heaven.
Yes, even the House Fly is under the Creator’s control and shows again how wonderfully He has made every creature. Actually, every boy and girl is a much greater marvel of His creation. The Psalmist said, “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works.” Psalms 139:1414I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalm 139:14). He has not only made us His highest creation, but wants us to know His great love. Have you responded to the invitation, “O taste and see that the Lord is good"? Psalms 34:88O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8).
ML-09/26/1982