To say that I’m not particularly fond of mosquitoes would be a huge understatement.  I sometimes wonder why Noah didn’t take the opportunity to swat the blighters while they were on the ark.

I mention this because in my neck of the woods mosquitoes are particularly annoying at the present time.  Here in Narrabri – as in many other places in Eastern Australia – we’ve had some lovely drought-breaking rains but it wasn’t only we human beings who loved the rain.  So did the mosquitoes… and the flies… and the midges.  The rains seem to have triggered some massive breeding programs among these critters that annoy us.

And let’s face it; it’s not only persistent flies and annoying mosquitoes that have flourished with the rains.  So have the weeds.  Actually, the weeds seem to have survived the drought better than other botanical specimens.  In recent weeks I’ve twice filled our green-lidded wheelie-bin with pig-weed from the garden.

And that’s the clue isn’t it?  The weeds remind us of what God told Adam and Eve in Paradise after they disobeyed Him and ate from the forbidden tree.  God placed a curse on His creation.  He told Adam that work would become more difficult as the ground would now produce thorns and thistles.  We now live in a fallen world where thorns and thistles are real and where flies and mosquitoes often annoy us no end.

In recent months we’ve certainly become very much aware that we live in a broken world.  Years of drought have taken their toll.  Then on top of that we’ve had one of the worst bushfire seasons on record.  Then came the rain – but with it came flooding in many places on our Eastern seaboard.  And now as we’ve gotten over the floods we are not only annoyed by flies and mosquitoes but we are being threatened by a pandemic that is the Corona virus.

So how do we deal with these manifestations of a broken and fallen world?  Well obviously we take personal responsibility for our own safety and protection in a world where life is at risk.  I not only pulled up pig-weed and assigned it to the bin, I also wear a fly-net when I work outside and there are creams and sprays that offer some protection from the mosquitoes and midges.  And when the Corona virus lands in Narrabri I’ll take whatever precautions are possible and necessary.

But there is something else that we often forget in times of trouble and in issues of hardship.  In all of these things God is trying to get our attention.  C.S. Lewis once said that God speaks into out pleasures but yells into our pains.  When we don’t hear His voice in times of prosperity and in the good things, He turns the volume up in our moments of hardship.  He’s calling us to trust in Him.

On one occasion people asked Jesus about some folk who died in tragic circumstances.  Jesus replied that it’s not that those people were worse sinners but that this was a potent reminder that unless we turn to God in faith and repentance we will likewise perish.

The good news is that through Jesus God has begun to roll back the curse of sin.  That’s why the Bible ends with that beautiful picture of a restored creation in Revelation 21.  Listen to these words from that chapter: “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”  And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”’

I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to a life without droughts or fires and without weeds or mosquitoes.  And no more Corona virus – ever!  But the point is that you only get to share in that as you put your trust in Jesus.

John Westendorp