Benchmarking

13 So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; 14 they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. 15 They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.  Exodus 10

Around 20 years ago, I was living in Texas and came up to Monroe to visit family over the summer.  My trip put me right in the middle of fish fly season.  That year was particularly horrible.  I remember that banks and car dealerships were hit the worst (because they were so well lit at night).  Any place that had a light on it at night would be covered an inch or more thick in fish flies come morning.  Ick!  And yes, it smelled quite atrocious, too.

I had never seen anything like that before in my life.  I was in awe that my family, and everyone else local to the area, thought this was just "worse than normal."  It wasn't out of the ordinary to have bugs descend on the town like they did, but just out of the ordinary that there were so many.  The magnitude of the situation made a much bigger impression on me than it did those who lived in the area, because I had never seen anything like it before.

Now, just last winter, the Michigan area (and many others) got hammered.  Snowmageddon.  I live just outside of Toledo and we hit record snowfalls, and the record for most snow in one season with over a hundred inches.  However, now I was one of the locals.  I was used to heavy snowfall, so the event didn't have the same impact on me as it would have had on someone who had never seen snow before.  Years from now (or just this upcoming winter if the predictions are true), I'll probably use it as a benchmark to compare future winters.  But I won't spend more time thinking on the magnitude of it all.

In Egypt, they had plague after plague hit them.  This chapter describes the locusts and darkness plagues.  The Egyptians had seen locusts before, and surely they had seen darkness at night.  But these were extreme situations.  Everything was covered in locusts, and everything that could be eaten was eaten by the locusts.  They were absolutely destructive on what remained.  As for the darkness, have you ever noticed how much darker it is in your house when the power goes out and there's absolutely no light?  That's what they experienced, for three days!

These are all out of the ordinary situations, but they were directly from God.  More importantly, throughout the later chapters, the Israelites are called to remember these events and to tell their children about them.  It's not as a benchmarking tool, "Hey, the locusts this season aren't as bad as they were that time before we left Egypt!"  It's to remember the locusts (and other plagues) were sent by God, and God removed and saved the Israelites.  

When things happen out of the ordinary for you, take the time to ask yourself: Is this just an abnormal event, or is this something directly from God?  Is it something so profound that he had to make a big statement to me to make me remember his power and glory, and remember this day?