For they covered the face of the whole earth...
...so that the land was darkened.
This verse gave me chill bumps when I read it two days ago. Recorded in Exodus 10:15, this passage refers to the plague of locusts that "went up over all the land of Egypt," which God sent down as part of his Sovereign plan to rescue the children of Israel from their captivity. I am currently reading in Exodus and I am having "more fun than a barrel of monkeys," to borrow an expression from my much-loved pastor. Ever single chapter is a testament of God's absolute power over the earth and all things therein. Each is a bull horn in my ears re-sounding Daniel 4:35: "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
While proving his authority, God also manages to humor me with his miracles. It is as though he is telling me a story of one of his many incredible feats of sovereignty that are found in his autobiography. When he sees me listening intently with my mouth dropped in awe, he says "Ha, you think an ever-burning bush is something? Check out my Plague Portfolio." So he goes on to tell me the account of the Plagues. He comes along to the Plague of hail and tells me, "So I told Moses to go tell Pharaoh I said If you don't let my people go, then I am going to send mighty thunderings and hail - and fire, "such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt..." and it will smite all the land of Egypt, both the men and animals, and every herb of the field, and it will brake every tree. And by the way, your slaves aren't going to feel a thing."
God didn't have to power up with Miracle Grow after each event. He didn't have to wait seventy-two hours for the Plague Potent to take effect. Nor did he have to write an OEP* Instruction Manual to hand out to the frogs who covered the land, the lice who came from the dust of the earth, the grievous flies who corrupted the land, or the locusts who covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened. No, God just spake, and it was done. Justly, Righteously, Omnisciently, God, who has all power in heaven and earth, by his own means persuaded Pharaoh, "who knew not the Lord, and would not let the people go" (Ex. 5:2), to command Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites to "Rise up, and get you forth from among my people..and go, serve the Lord."
As Moses and the children of Israel sang to the Lord after their emancipation, "Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonder?" (Ex. 15:11)
*Operation: Egyptian Plague
