The Third Plague: Gnats
The Thirds Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." Exodus 20:7
“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain” -C.S. Lewis
The Plague of Gnats: Exodus 8:16-18
"Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not."
Now, I have heard countless times about how this commandment is about cursing-particularly the phrases that include the name of God. I will not list the phrases or words that I am talking about as I believe everyone who would read this knows what I am talking about. Anyways, I do uphold the notion that Christians should not curse. Although they are small words, like gnats if you would like to follow along with the metaphor, they are hurtful and often times stir up hatred. The Bible clearly does not support cursing. Some of the cursory phrases that our society has come up, in essence, involve you wishing that God would send down His damnation upon the person or object being cursed at. Cursing should not be used to "vent" anger or express frustration. There are other ways to do that (such as prayer). Moreover, do not curse for it serves no purpose no matter how much somebody claims that it does.
Cursing is obviously not what I wanted to address in this post, for I think the third commandment has another meaning that can change the way we look at our lives. So here we go:
The Verdict: If we use God's name in vain, we fail in the call to complete God's will and we slowly become consumed by our selfishness.
Like in the second commandment with the word graven, I think that there is also a very important phrase in the third commandment: in vain. The commandment reads that we are not supposed to "take the name of the Lord in vain" and that "the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain". This phrase can have a wide variety of meanings, but the one that i was most intrigued by, was that "in vain" can mean "without purpose". With this definition in mind, the commandment means something much deeper than "do not curse". It means not to use the name of God without purpose.
So what would it mean to use the name of God without purpose? In my opinion, whenever we are not following God's commandment of furthering His kingdom, we are using His name without purpose. This may sound absolutely ridiculous, but think about it: How much time do we waste stressing? How much time do we waste watching television? Worrying? On the computer? Being lazy? Yelling? Being angry? Buying items we honestly do no need? Now compare that time to the time we spend reading the Scriptures, praying, investing time with the youth, spreading God's glorious message.... When I think about my life, I find I spend more time using His name "without purpose". Some common church jargon explains that Christians "represent the name of God" everywhere we go. If I am a Christian, and I truly "represent the name of God", and I am not supposed to use God's name without purpose, well then I have got some serious work to do. When I think through a normal school day, there are plenty of times where I could be praying, reading the Scriptures, telling my friends about God, and ultimately bearing His name for the purpose He has called all Christians to. I think that using God's name with purpose is something we rarely do consistently. I believe we use God's name more often without purpose. How. Did. We. Get. Here? Seriously.
This is a command. This is a calling. This is a challenge. A challenge to always use God's name with a purpose. It is a call telling us to stop being so selfish. It is a command to live a life with the soul and only purpose to serve God and Him alone.
Now for the plague that follows the breaking of this commandment. Gnats are small. In large quantities they are quite annoying. They can be swatted away very easily, They are not effective in biting. They tend to flock together and have a merry little time feasting upon a rotting fruit. For the Egyptians, the dust became gnats.
Gnats remind me of the emphasis Jesus made about being "the least" or "the last" as opposed to "the greatest" or "the first". All in all, Jesus called us to be humble people. This passage in Luke really hits on this point:
Luke 7:28
"I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
Are you kidding me? In this statement, Jesus is talking about John the Baptist- the man that prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus Christ. John was a big deal. John was selected by God. And here, Jesus is saying that nobody is greater than John, but the least in the kingdom of God are greater than He. If this does not cause a slight uneasy feeling in your stomach, I do not know many other scriptures that would. Jesus is saying that even though John the Baptist is great, even the least are greater than John in the kingdom of God. This is a big deal. John lived his entire life proclaiming that the Christ was coming, and what do we do?
With some background to this verse, Jesus said this so that the twelve disciples did not try and live up to the standard of John the Baptist. Jesus wanted them living a life modeled after the life Jesus lived- a perfect one. Jesus is not insulting John the Baptist, He is challenging His disciples to live a life even "greater" than John the Baptist's life. Wow.
In the third commandment and in the entire ministry of Jesus, we are called to live a life that is larger than the effect a gnat has on somebody. Let's not use God's name without the purpose Christ calls us to and become minuscule gnats. Let's strive for a life that is great in the kingdom of God-which looks like the least to those living in the counter kingdom (but that is another post). Let's shed our selfishness. Use God's name with purpose All. The. Time.
