“In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.” Isaiah 7:18
“He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth and behold it will come with speed swiftly.”Isaiah 5:26
A whistling woman and a crowing hen,
Both come to no good end.
Both come to no good end.
We were busying ourselves cleaning up the Emergency Room after much trauma traveled through. I was whistling quietly as I worked in the utility area when my faithful volunteer and co-worker rebuked me with the above quote. It stopped me dead in my tracks. Being a young graduate nurse at the time and unwise in many ways I did listen when my elders spoke and I do to this day. I never forgot what she said. I did not, however, understand why whistling while you work would bring ‘no good end’.
Recently I began a precept Bible Study on the Book of Isaiah that has also stopped me in my tracks each time I study, mining the jewels that hide within the verses of this poet prophet.
If we are to believe Scripture and I DO, the Lord of Hosts (God of the angel armies) sits in judgment on His children whenever necessary. Prior to doing so He warns, He begs, He pleads with them to return, repent and be restored. They, (like we) through willful ignorance continued to rebel.
So, the LORD whistles! Can you imagine what that sounds like? I’ve never been a good whistler and can’t put my fingers in my mouth a certain way and do that really loud whistle. But when I read those passages, my mind conjured up the old western movies when Rowdy Yates of Rawhide fame swung his lasso above his head and yelled to the cowboys: “Head ‘em up, move ‘em out.” The herds of cattle mooed their way across the prairie in a cloud of dust headed for an unknown destination. Though I’m sure that’s not what God’s whistle sounds like, the memory puts a pucker on my lips as I ponder the possibilities of the shrill call of Omnipotence that can be heard all the way to Assyria and Egypt. Please do not assume that I think Clint Eastwood or James Drury looks or thinks anything like the Lord Almighty. Ahh, but I did like the old westerns. But I digress.
God whistles for the nation of Assyria, the enemy, to come in with flags flying and bees buzzing. But not only does he whistle for the armies of Assyria to seriously switch His children’s legs but He also whistles for the flies of Egypt. Flags, flies and bees. What would it be like to witness God Almighty whistling for flies to settle on the cliffs, thorn bushes and on all the watering places? Pesky flies. And a foreign flag to fly over Father Abraham’s family, the house of Israel. How absolutely unthinkable!
I wonder when or if the God of the Angel Armies whistles in our lives? Does our nation like the nation of Israel need a spanking? Has He wooed us, warned us, and waited for us to want to know Him more, to obey Him, to repent of our rebellion? Is there an Isaiah in our day to hear the Lord, heed the Lord and whole heartedly agree to “here am I, send me,”?
Can we identify the Assyria, our enemy… nationally, locally, personally in our lives?
And what about those pesky flies? I cannot abide flies and this past summer I challenged my grandsons by offering them a quarter every time they killed a fly in my house. I discovered the reason my cache of quarters emptied quickly when I realized they were intentionally leaving the door open for the flying nuisances. Will God whistle for the aggravations in your life to absolutely drive you nuts?
The next time you’re whistling, remember what happened in the past and how God recorded it for our benefit.
I’m not sure what the LORD Almighty sounds like when He whistles, but I’m pretty sure it won’t sound like a woman and it may be that no good end is in sight. If, and when He does whistle for the enemy, swift will come the judgment!
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