Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Most of us in this global community called “Walking with Jesus” are adults old enough to have children, and many of us have grandchildren and few of you have great grandchildren! A multi-generation family is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Just as you learned many things from your parents and grandparents, so your children and grandchildren have been learning from you. So here’s a few questions that are important for us adults to consider from time to time: ‘What have my descendants learned from me? What do they believe are my strongest held values? What do they believe are the things most important to me? What have I learned from my ancestors that I have been sure to pass on to my descendants? How will I be remembered when I’m gone from this earthly life?’
We’re on the journey with Moses, and we’re in the thick of the season of ‘the plagues’ as God is ravaging Egypt and trying to teach Pharaoh some important lessons. Yesterday I left you contemplating the devastation of the greatest storm that had ever hit Egypt, a hailstorm that profoundly damaged the crops in the fields and even trees, especially fruit trees! Since we sometimes experience sudden rises in food prices and even scarcity of some foods because crops have been damaged by a deep freeze or a huge storm or wide spread floods, I think we can probably imagine what was happening as the Egyptian markets reacted to the hail storm! But evidently there was no sign of softening of Pharaoh’s heart. So God sent Moses to the palace again! It was once again a multi-purposed message. Listen to the first part: “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 miraculous signs of mine among them 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.” (Ex. 10:1,2)
Do you see at least three important lessons God was wanting Moses & Pharaoh to learn? Can you consider how these lessons apply to your life and mine in 2021??
1. First lesson: It was God who was hardening the hard, prideful hearts of Pharaoh and his officials.
And God was doing this hardening so they would refuse to allow the Hebrew slaves to leave and yes, that refusal would keep the slaves enslaved longer, but that enslavement gave God more opportunity to do even more and greater miracles to prove His supreme power!
Is there a lesson here for us? When things do not go as hoped or as planned in your life, do you get frustrated that maybe God isn’t doing all He could do to bless you or protect you or deal with the problem issues you are facing? Could it be God is perhaps actually involved in ALLOWING or even CAUSING what appear to be problems in your life so that you will pursue a stronger relationship with God and He will have the opportunity to do miracles in the problems you are facing? Would you consider this phrase the next time you face a problem: ‘This is not a problem, it is an opportunity for ME to trust God and deepen my relationship with Him. And it is an opportunity for God to do a miracle in my life!’
2. Second lesson: All those people in Egypt who were experiencing these miracles, both the Egyptians and the Hebrew slaves, would have great stories to tell their children and grandchildren about the greatness of God!
Would the Pharaoh and the Egyptians tell the stories, or would they pretend the Exodus never happened? For the Hebrews, this Exodus experience ended up being one of their defining experiences as a people. The annual Passover festival, celebrated by Jews every year since these events, in every place in the world where there are Jews, is their celebration of the unlimited power of God displayed in the Exodus.
In fact, the Passover meal begins with the eldest man inviting a young child at the table to ask the famous question: “Why is this night different from all others?” The answer to that question is the entire Passover meal festival which celebrates and teaches a new generation what God did to rescue 1 million Hebrew slaves!! Oh the importance that God places on adults passing along to their descendants the great truths of God as they have learned them and personally experienced them! That’s the power of Psalm 78:1-7. Would you consider this question: ‘What will my descendants miss if I choose NOT to tell them the great stories of God’s work in my life?’
3. Third Lesson: God again states clearly that the primary purpose of these powerful plagues is not simply the defeat of Pharaoh’s pride or even the emancipation of the slaves.
Rather, the ultimate purpose is that everyone who experienced it or ever hears about it, all the way to our present day, would know that “The LORD” is the one and only true, living, almighty, creator God!! So here’s an important question for us: “Do we sometimes allow ourselves to get caught up in, invested in, dedicated to the accomplishment of small, perhaps selfish endeavors, goals and objectives which distract us from the much larger overall purposes of God in our world and our lives?’
Moses continued with his message from God to Pharaoh: “This is what the LORD the God of the Hebrews says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go so that they may worship Me. If you refuse… I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail… they will fill the houses of all Egyptians. It will be something neither your fathers nor even your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.” (Ex. 10:3-6)
The record says Moses did not wait for any response from the Pharaoh, nor did he engage any discussion. This meeting was over, and Moses simply turned and walked out, leaving the most powerful man in the world, and his officials, speechless and pondering what it would be like in Egypt if this predicted plague of locusts actually happened! Up until this point the record has been silent regarding the officials of the Pharaoh. Oh I’m sure they’ve spoken, probably many times, but the silence of the record suggests whatever they said was not particularly noteworthy… until today.
As the door closed behind Moses, this time these officials gathered around the great Pharaoh with a sobering question: “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go so that they may worship the LORD their God. Pharaoh, do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?“ Ex. 10:7) One of the measurements of good leadership is how leaders respond to the wisdom of their trusted advisors, do you agree? Around the world today we see ample evidence of powerful, influential leaders in every sphere of society who are disregarding the wise counsel of their advisors and the results are devastating.
In the Egyptian palace that day, Pharaoh had several important decisions to make. Do you see them as very contemporary decisions you and I need to make in October ’21? I wonder if Pharaoh’s officials invited him out onto his palatial balcony again and asked him to take a look out over the city and the fields around the city, and consider the damage all the plagues had caused thus far in that place? Do you have friends who help you do this from time to time? I’d like to invite us to pause on that balcony with them. But rather than looking out across devastated Egypt, look out across the landscape of your life, your extended family, your city, your nation. Compare what you see today, to what it was like 21 years ago as we crossed over into this new millennium. What do you see my friends and how did it all decay so badly in such a relatively short period of time? You see the first major decision Pharaoh faced was simply this: ‘Will I see my world with clear, honest eyes or do I insist on seeing my world through clouded, skewed lenses? How about you and me? As you consider these questions and look at your world, do you see in truth or do you see in ‘artificial’?
1. How has health care changed in 20 years where you live? Has the respect for God and His creation of human life improved or lessened where you live?
2. How has education changed in 20 years where you live? Are students at all levels, from pre-school to graduate school being motivated to learn to think, to problem solve, to understand how God has designed this Universe to function?
3. How has the mental health of the people in your city changed in 20 years? More or less people taking medications for depression, anxiety and a wide range of other mental health challenges? Are Suicide rates up or down? Is alcohol & drug addiction up or down in 20 years?
4. How have the priority social issues changed in your society in 20 years?
5. Law and Order, types of crime, criminal justice and crime rates, prison populations etc. How has that changed in 20 years in your city?
6. How has the spirituality of people in your city changed in 20 years?
Pharaoh had to decide which voices he’d listen to? Wise counsel who were honest, challenging, and clear or ‘spin voices’ who spoke with political correctness or socially popular perspective? Would Pharaoh humble himself, acknowledge God’s power and yield to God’s supremacy, or continue to be hard headed, prideful, and determined to have it his way? Finally, would Pharaoh be short sighted or long view oriented? Yes, I’ve found a song to help us ponder these types of questions today, my friends…
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 10:1-7.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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