I had a battle with a fly that lasted several hours. It was nighttime and I was watching TV. This fly, somehow, had entered our living room and was very energetic—flying to the TV screen and then back to my reading lamp; getting within inches of me and my face; even, at times landing on parts of my body. It was a general nuisance.
Since I did not have a flyswatter handy, I used, what I thought to be the next best thing—the newspaper I was reading. As the fly came at me, I’d roll up the newspaper and swat it. A tad reminiscence to a bygone era when disciplining a dog that just done her duty on the floor. We don’t do that anymore. Perhaps the paper was stunning the fly, but was proving unsuccessful. It just kept coming and coming.
I remember a time in which I tried to take out a wasp with a bath towel. I do not recommend this especially if the towel is in use for its intended purpose. The wasp takes umbrage to this and can do damage. It will dive–bomb its victim. And it hurts. But a fly, well, other than being an annoyance, what can it do.
Then I started wondering if a fly has a memory of stories that have been passed down from one generation to another. Could it be that this fly heard a tale from his ancestors of me in 4th grade catching a dopey fly in my hand, pulling off its wings and keeping it on my desk as a pet until it fell off the edge. I’m not proud of this and would never do it again, but this fly had it coming if I could ever catch it.
On and on the battle went. The fly would go under the lampshade and I’d make the paper smaller and try to hit it by the light. The newspaper was now crumbled and barely readable and I kept missing parts of the TV program. The fly just kept on flying.
At some point it stopped. It either took one too many blows and will be found when the vacuum cleaner comes or disappeared into another room to fly another day.
As a Christian minister I can equate the fly with temptation that keeps coming and coming. The flyswatter, is God’s Word, which was so effectively used by Jesus when tempted of the devil in the wilderness. It is “living and active, sharper than a two–edged sword . . .” (Hebrew 4:12) and is the only defense we have against the evil one. That is why memorizing portions of the Bible is so important. Quite difficult to swat at Satan with a closed Bible. As a Christian we have God on our side who has promised never to allow us “to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Time for me to invest in a flyswatter.
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