DAY 3

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are building a tiny robot. Known affectionately as “robofly,'' the gadget is a flying robot about the size of a housefly. It even looks a like a fly, although it will have four wings instead of two and one eye instead of two. The US government is funding the project with $2.5 million and they want to see robofly dodging flyswatters by 2004. Teresa McMullen of the Office of Naval Research said, “the potential application of a robot based on a fly might be, in an urban environment, clandestine surveillance and reconnaissance.” We would never have guessed Teresa! In other words, that fly might be a spy. Just the thing for keeping tabs on terrorists or citizens.

What would we do if we had to worry about the flies on our walls? The King of Syria had a problem, which was much worse. Elisha the prophet was listening in on what the King said even in his most private moments and sharing the information with the King of Israel. One of the Syrian King’s servants finally let him in on what was going on, “...Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom (II Kings 6:12).” Now this really ticked off the King of Syria and he sent his army to exterminate the prophet Elisha. But Elisha was protected by the Army of the Lord and the Syrian army was struck with blindness. The Bible states, “So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel (2 Kings 6:23b).”

Even if the government sends a fly to monitor our private lives God is still God. Elisha’s servant was shaking in his sandals when they were surrounded by the Syrian army until God opened his eyes and then he saw the Lord‘s Army, “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:17b).” Perhaps we should be less concerned with flies on our walls and more concerned with the One who has “chariots of fire.”