The Hornet

 

I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.

I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the

Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

Exodus 23:27b-28

Several years ago, I was in my backyard on a glowing spring morning, doing one of my favorite chores – mowing the grass.  I was out in the middle of the yard, not a tree or shrub within striking distance, when I was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of hornets, buzzing angrily and stinging me everywhere.  I beelined for the house and the calamine lotion!  I had run the lawn mower over the opening of a ground hornet’s nest and paid the price for my folly.

When the children of Israel were receiving instructions for moving into their promised land, God instructed Moses, and then Joshua, that he would clear the land of its inhabitants by sending in swarms of hornets.  Having been on the receiving end of a similar experience, I can testify to the brilliance of the Lord’s plan.  But it was neither quick enough nor conventional enough for the men of Israel – they wanted to storm the country, weapons at the ready. 

So Israel did it their way – to a much bloodier, violent, hateful end than God and the hornets would have accomplished.  Our Father's ways may not always be conventional, but they are always best.