Day 22
Technology! We just bought a TiVo this week! Waahooooo!! That thing is awesome! Oh my! I even typed in for it to record any Bible study that Beth Moore does and it will automatically record it when she's on! How cool! I did the same thing for Dusty....but for Dolly Parton! :) If you're reading this with your coffee this morning your coffee probably got cold waiting on me! Sorry!!! :)
Exodus 10 The Locust arrive today! Yuck! I can just hear the summer "bug fryer" when it zaps a bug in the light! And the smell......imagine that but 100x's worse...so many locust that it is DARK outside!!!! God continues to harden Pharoah's heart.....do remember that...it is GOD doing the hardening...I don't think I've pointed that out enough. God is purposefully hardening Pharaoh's heart so that God can continue this power struggle and continue to show Pharaoh who is REALLY in charge. (Seems here that the kids and puppy are in charge.....I swear I sat down an hour ago to write this!) My commentary says that God has to let Pharaoh continue to resist because otherwise, Pharaoh would have cried "uncle" already, the story would end, and there would be no fight for the triumph!!!! God must continue to be able to show off for us! To show off his power, his signs, his miracles.....where will you see God show off today? Expect it!! He does it!!! He does show off for us! Just watch the sunset!! :) So the locust create the most devastating destruction of all time. The eat the leaves off the trees, all the fruit, the fields are bare and the ground is black from their presence. Nothing green remained in all the land of Egypt! (v. 15). Pharaoh starts to say he's sinned against God, calls for Moses and asks for forgiveness....AGAIN. God cleared out the locust with a great wind from the west (sound familiar you okies??!) but his heart was still hardened and the people weren't freed. This chapter ends with the plague of darkness.....a darkness that can be felt! Now that's dark!!! The Egyptians had complete darkness for 3 days, but the Israelites had light everywhere they went! Pharaoh tells Moses to go and worship his Lord, but to leave the flocks behind. But Moses said they needed the flocks so they could make sacrifices and burnt offerings to God (v. 25). But Pharaoh's heart was....you go it...hardened. Say it with me....hardened. Pharaoh even told Moses to get out of his face and that he never wanted to see him again! And Moses never did. (Can't blame him!)
Chapter 11 The plague on the firstborn. The plagues go from having an economic impact on the Egyptians now to death. This chapter is a short one where Moses tells of how the plague will take place: about midnight, the Lord goes through the land and every firstborn son will die...from children to the livestock! Wailing will be heard throughout the land. Why does God do this? Why does God take the firstborn??? God is for the vulnerable child.....we know that, but this seems an irrational reversal of sorts.....taking one to save another? But isn't that what Jesus was and did? He was sacrificed to save us?? The Egyptians who have mocked God and His power and sovereignty are now being sacrificed to save God's chosen people!! Seems odd, but in understanding Jesus and the Cross....makes some sense??!
Chapter 12 The Passover This is a meal that the Israelites prepared in obedience and faith to God. It will protect them from "the destroyer" (v. 23). Sounds like a movie coming out this summer! :) When I was a minister in Muskogee, we had a seder meal....just like this at Easter time. We ate lamb.....(ew!), horseradish....raw (bitter herbs) and we ate flatbread.....we skipped the part about putting the blood over the doorposts. See the picture below about the Passover blood on the door. They were to worship and celebrate in their houses where they have eaten the lamb and placed the blood on the door. Then the Lord would pass through the land and "strike down every firstborn--men and livestock--but the blood on the houses will be a sign for the Lord to pass them over. No destructive plague will touch them when He strikes Egpyt. There was loud wailing throughout the land and there was not one house without someone dead in Egypt.
Then Moses summoned all of the elders of Israel, told them to pack up their things for they are leaving! They were to take no yeast, and unleavened bread for the journey. Pharaoh summoned Moses .....again, even after telling him to get out and stay out.....he told Moses to leave, go worship your Lord and take the people. Pharaoh even said, "and bless me!" The Israelites took off, asked for help from the Egyptians for gold and silver, and left. There were about 600,000 of them! Jacob's family of 70 has turned into these 600,000 over the past 430 years!!!!! This number didn't even include counting women! Could have been 2million. Such dust stirring up in the land. Such confusion of packing and leaving! Mass chaos!! "The Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions: (v. 50-51).
Lessons learned: What seems like a small sin.....can sometimes lead to a widespread impact in our lives. Look at Pharaoh. Look for God to "show off" for you today! He'll do it! Just you wait and see!!
Thy will be done................
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