In Exodus 8-10, things continue to get worse for the Egyptians, but the Pharaoh just will not listen to God. The Israelites are miserable. God promises to save them and take them from Egypt to the Promised Land. But, my goodness, the whole process seems like torture. Despite plague after plague from God, Pharaoh's heart is ridiculously hardened to God and His love for His people. Things are just as God said they would be.
I can't shake Pharaoh today. Have you ever met a Pharaoh? Have you ever had to come face to face with someone whose heart is obviously hardened and desperately missing the love of God?
It can be exhausting, scary, frustrating, heartbreaking. Ultimately, it's life threatening.
God keeps sending signs of His might, His presence, and His power. There's a battle going on for Pharaoh and those who do not believe in God. They question God's sovereignty because the magicians distract people, making them believe that they, too, can do the same things God can do. God could take all of Egypt out in one instant, but He makes Himself very clear. He is in Egypt to tell a bigger, better story.
Take a look at what God has to say to Pharaoh.
I caught myself today. I was thinking how much I can't stand that Pharaoh and how much I AM NOT like him. He bothers me, the way He disrespects God and refuses to listen. Just when I think He might finally know who God is, Pharaoh goes his own way again.
Thank goodness I am not like Pharaoh, I insist to myself. Then I heard a still, small voice saying, "Wait a minute, Lindsay. Let's think about that."
So, now I am really thinking. As sinners, we all have some of Pharaoh in us. We get caught up in our own "little world" at times. Things go our way for a little bit, and we are fooled into thinking we are all good. Our hearts have a hard time hearing God's voice. We lose His sense of direction for our lives. We think we know best. We have a tendency to forget that we are God's, here to play our part in His bigger, better, story.
God uses our lives to show the world who He is. He wants us to see Him and recognize His signs in our here and now. He wants us to know Him and to tell our children and grandchildren about His merciful and graceful love for us.
So what do we do when we recognize some Pharaoh in us?
We faithfully turn to the cross and our eternal Savior, Jesus, with thankful hearts. God tells a bigger story in us too!
A prayer for today-
Love and blessings,
*This post is part of A Mind-Maker-Upper's Everyday Reading Project. Click here to read more.
I can't shake Pharaoh today. Have you ever met a Pharaoh? Have you ever had to come face to face with someone whose heart is obviously hardened and desperately missing the love of God?
It can be exhausting, scary, frustrating, heartbreaking. Ultimately, it's life threatening.
God keeps sending signs of His might, His presence, and His power. There's a battle going on for Pharaoh and those who do not believe in God. They question God's sovereignty because the magicians distract people, making them believe that they, too, can do the same things God can do. God could take all of Egypt out in one instant, but He makes Himself very clear. He is in Egypt to tell a bigger, better story.
Take a look at what God has to say to Pharaoh.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up[a] for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Thank goodness I am not like Pharaoh, I insist to myself. Then I heard a still, small voice saying, "Wait a minute, Lindsay. Let's think about that."
So, now I am really thinking. As sinners, we all have some of Pharaoh in us. We get caught up in our own "little world" at times. Things go our way for a little bit, and we are fooled into thinking we are all good. Our hearts have a hard time hearing God's voice. We lose His sense of direction for our lives. We think we know best. We have a tendency to forget that we are God's, here to play our part in His bigger, better, story.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”
God uses our lives to show the world who He is. He wants us to see Him and recognize His signs in our here and now. He wants us to know Him and to tell our children and grandchildren about His merciful and graceful love for us.
So what do we do when we recognize some Pharaoh in us?
We faithfully turn to the cross and our eternal Savior, Jesus, with thankful hearts. God tells a bigger story in us too!
A prayer for today-
Dear God,
I thank You for Jesus, and His saving grace in my life. Forgive me for all the ways I fail to come to You with a humble and open heart. Lord, reveal the things I need to do in order to better serve You. I come to You with thanksgiving and a desire to know You, not just in dire circumstances but in all the nooks and crannies of my day to day life. I pray for Your grace and peace to reach ________ today.
In the name of Jesus I pray,
Amen
Love and blessings,
*This post is part of A Mind-Maker-Upper's Everyday Reading Project. Click here to read more.
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