And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”

28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

Someone observed that we see in Moses now, something of a man ‘growing into the job.’ There is such a calm assurance about him, and for all his great power, there is just a sense that Pharaoh cannot win. The transformation is somewhat akin to Peter, pre and post-Pentecost. Moses is a changed man.

In this section of the plague of flies story, I recognise that we can be like Pharaoh in saying to obviously committed people, ‘Steady on now. Don’t go overboard. It’s all well and good to be a disciple, but don’t take it too far.’

Someone said, ‘The devil is always telling us it is dangerous to get too near to God.’ I think that is true, and we can feel threatened by people who have obviously gone further than we have.

“The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal…” (Ezekiel 1:4). This refers to Ezekiel’s vision of God. Could it be we are scared to get too close to the “centre of the fire”? Fearful of what might be burned up?

PRAYER: Lord, please give me a desire to go deeper into you. May nothing hold me back.