“The Lord works in mysterious ways” was the opening line of a recent article, entitled “Return of the Swarm”, which appeared in a national newspaper. We believe the words were far more apposite than the writer possibly imagined. He went on to seek an explanation for the plague of locusts which was causing widespread devastation north and south of the Mediterranean Sea at the time. Mysterious indeed are the ways of Him who is reigning supreme in heaven and earth, governing all His creatures and sovereign in all His dispensations! Are we not told that the plague of locusts in Egypt, in the time of Moses, was the result of the Lord stretching out His hand to smite that land, and was one of the “wonders” which he promised to perform “in the midst thereof?” And is it not fitting that “the finger of God” should be acknowledged in this current plague also? Is it not a loud call to repentance, sounding not only in the ears of the poor, afflicted people more immediately concerned, but also in the ears of all who hear the report of this dreadful visitation?
One would think that the inhabitants of the little town of Matera in southern Italy and especially all responsible for the making of the fearfully-blasphemous film, The Passion of the Christ, would have reason to ponder the matter. It was in this locality that most of the filming was done and the people living here welcomed it, convinced that they could only benefit from it. Instead, however, of the tourist boom which was expected to follow the publicity gained, this area of Italy was visited by a millions-strong plague of locusts, each one reported to be five inches long, which devoured “every speck of vegetation in Matera and the surrounding countryside”. Are we not to think that He, whose name has been taken in vain in so bold and iniquitous a manner, is no idle spectator after all?
We are told that prayers were being offered up in the churches of the area and that businessmen were calling for a state of emergency to be proclaimed on account of the damage sustained by the town’s economy, but how many turned up and considered the words of God uttered to Solomon: “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”?
The locusts which arrived in Italy apparently came from Africa, where a cloud of them – described as hundreds of miles long and wide, and half a mile deep – had eaten its way across 16 million acres of Chad and was heading towards Sudan, where multitudes are already suffering as a result of a civil war. In the wake of the cloud, it is feared, there will follow pestilence, famine and mass starvation. Have we not reason to tremble? “The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see Thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.”
JM