“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 peskiest and best known is the common housefly. It has been called “the most dangerous insect in North America,” because of the germs it spreads. As unpleasant as houseflies are, let’s take a closer look at what the Creator has given them.
Starting from a tiny egg laid by a female fly, a white grub hatches and grows rapidly. Within a few days, it changes to a pupa and then into an adult fly. In proportion to its size, the fly’s eyes are huge. Each eye has around 4,000 six-sided lenses to give it outstanding vision. Its body is made up of five segments and is covered on the underside with stiff hairs. These hairs are usually loaded with often-harmful bacteria. It has six hairy legs with a tiny claw and a sticky pad on the end of each leg. These sticky pads trap and carry more bacteria.
Did you ever wonder how a fly can walk up a window or how it can walk upside down on the ceiling? The claws help it grip on smooth surfaces, and the pads are coated with a sticky substance that enables it to climb or walk upside down without difficulty.
The housefly multiplies rapidly. During her short two-week lifetime, each female will lay six clusters of 100-150 eggs. If every egg became an adult fly and none were destroyed, it has been calculated that within four months the descendants of a single pair 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 using insecticides or swatting them with fly swatters, they have many other enemies. Spiders, hornets, frogs, birds, mites and parasites also help keep their numbers down.
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 everything will be restored to order again, and these insects will no longer be harmful. That time will be after the Lord Jesus takes all who love Him into heaven.
Yes, even the housefly 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” (Psalm 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 He wants us to know His great love.
ML-02/08/2009