My Bee Story

One of the pleasures of farm life is mowing hay. On a fine New Zealand summer day, I was doing just that. As I went round and round cutting the grass off at ground level, I found a curious phenomenon started to occur on a particular corner. In those days I had a fine crop of long curly hair and as I went round this particular corner, I found a bee would get in my hair and sting my head. This happened 3 times in a row. I would pick the bee out of my mop of hair and throw it away. As I wondered what was going on, I looked up and found that this particular corner was in a flight path for the bees leaving the hives that were on an adjacent property. Bees, I later learnt, do not like diesel or the sound of tractors. I solved the problem by ducking down as I rounded this corner.

The paddock of hay was done, all except a small triangle just over the dry creek bed. I drove my tractor down into the creek and up on to the triangle of unmown grass. As I dropped the mower, I started to mow the hay, moving toward trees on the fence on the boundary. Unbeknown to me, there were beehives just through the trees. As I looked up to steer a straight course, I noticed hundreds of bees heading in my direction. Without further ado I pulled the stop button on the tractor, jumped from the machine, and ran for my life. The bees were momentarily distracted by the tractor, while I set Olympic records as I bolted for the cow shed vat room that had insect screens on any openings. With no mobile phones in those days, I just had to wait it out until the bees went away. After sun set, when the bees were in bed, the small patch of grass was finely mowed.

An interesting story from the Bible is of God’s promise to drive out the enemies of God’s people as they inhabited the promised land. You can read about it in Exodus 23:28, Deuteronomy 20: 4 and Joshua 24:12-13 which says, “Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—not by your sword nor your bow. And I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’”

The takeaway for you and I from this Biblical story, is that in Christ our battle is already won. We don’t have to beat the devil to get to heaven, he is a defeated foe – the Battle is already won. The Israelites did not always comprehend this. Their trust in God wavered. Notice Deuteronomy 20:4, God has promised to fight our enemies and we are given the reward for which we have not laboured. The sting of the enemy has been taken away. Paul, quoting Isaiah and Hosea said, “Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?[” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 NLT.