1 November

Today’s the day when in 1986 the River Rhine turned red. Following a catastrophic fire at a chemical factory in Switzerland, 30 tons of pesticides were discharged into the river, giving the water a bright red appearance. Within 10 days the pollution had travelled the length of the Rhine, killing an estimated half million fish and wiping out some entire species. A public outcry resulted and the Rhine Action Programme was set up to clean up the river. There were celebrations when salmon finally returned in 1997.

You hear a story like that and it reminds you of the time God turned the River Nile red. It was the first plague he brought on Israel when the Pharaoh refused to set God’s people free from slavery. This is how it’s recorded in Exodus 7:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. Then say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”

If, like Pharaoh, you’ve been tempted to ignore something God is saying to you, that’s just a gentle reminder of how seriously God takes his own word and how much he wants us to listen.