‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. – Exodus 19:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 7, 2012): Exodus 19

Did you know that there is no way that a bumble bee should be able to fly? Aerodynamically there is no way that the wings of a bumble bee should be able to maintain the bee in the air – the wings are just too thin and too fragile to take something the size of a bumble bee and move it unsupported through empty space. And I do not know about you, but I have heard a number of preachers over my lifetime make that assertion. Therefore we know that the only way a bumble bee can fly is because God has ordained that the bee can fly and if God is willing to move a bee through the air by the power of his hand, how much more does God want to take care of you. And there is only one thing wrong with everything I have just said. It just is not true.

A bumble bee is aerodynamically designed for flight. Okay, it is not designed for flight in the same way that bird is, or in the same way that a plane is, but it is still designed to fly. The technical reason why a bumble bee can fly is because the oscillation of wings creates dynamic stall with every beat of the wings. The dynamic stall creates a small vortex or a circular movement of air that almost sucks the bumble bee into its flight. It may be different flight from other things that we know fly, but it is still flight.

God reminds Israel of the things that he has done. And probably the first thing that Israel would think of was the crossing of the Red Sea, or the plagues that had come on the kingdom of Egypt. But I am not sure that that was the totality of what God meant. I think God wanted Israel to see all of the abnormal things that had happened, and recognize that it was God that was the author of all of that was strange and marvelous. But at the same time to look at the normal things of life and recognize the hand of God even in those events. How great is a God who created a bird to fly and a hummingbird that does the same thing differently. How great is a God that creates both the flight of the eagle and of the bumble bee.

God moves in the special times of your life, but maybe the bigger miracle happens when we begin to see the hand of God in the normal, everyday things. We do not need to invent a bumble bee that can only fly because God throws it through the air. What we need are eyes that witness the hand of God in all of the things, both strange and normal, in this life.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 20