The Hornet

I was a little distracted this morning when I read Deuteronomy 7:20.  God will send The Hornet.  Cool.  I'm a fan of cartoon fantasies and I wondered "what was The Hornet"?

I did just enough internet research to conclude that I needed to return to my own study.  There was the question of hornets vs hornet.  The King James version has the plural.  The NIV has singular.  There were a few entries about numbers, Egypt and airplanes. I decided to return to my own ponderings and keep it simple.

The purpose of the hornet was to cause fear of the Israelites and God; to create confusion and to identify the enemy.  The hornet was going to reach even the few survivors who tried to hide from the Israelites as they possessed the Promised Land.

God had laid out the plan.  He would gradually drive out the other nations.  Otherwise, the wild animals would take over the land.  The Israelites would have time to multiply and fill up the land.  Yet, there was danger that the other gods would ensnare them.  God again reminds them to destroy their images, don't covet nor take their silver and gold and don't bring them into their homes.

The purpose of the hornet was to cause fear in the nonbelievers, not fear in the believers.  Thinking about a literal hornet does bring on some fear.  I don't think I've ever been stung but I believe the accounts of others. The sound of buzzing is enough for me to take action to avoid the sting.

What does all this hornet discussion mean to me today?  God is at work in the world today seeking the lost.  There are many who are spiritually hiding in fear of God.   The lost may try to hide but  God will seek them even in their hiding places.  The lost  think they are hiding from the sting of a hornet but there is Good News.  God has rescued us from the sting of death.

Today God's hornet convicts the lost, and perhaps me, of sin.  Maybe there is also spiritual buzzing when God's Hornet is working around me.  When I am aware of an indiscretion, or a sin, I can't seem to get it "the buzzing" out of my head, until I confess it.  I  worry about the consequences, the sting, until I confess it.  So maybe when I hear the buzzing of the world, it is the warning that I am too close to the world and need to move closer to God.

Just now, the fan in the gas fireplace changed tones.  The puppies heard it and moved away and gave a little  bark.  I think today I am reminded to respond to the "warning buzzing" I hear in my spirit and move closer to God.  

Deuteronomy 8:1, again, reminds me to be careful to follow every direction of God so I may live, increase and enter the Promised Life that God has planned for me.