Thursday February 10, 2011
Today's Passage: Exodus 6:28-11:10
Memory Verse: 2 Chronicles 7:14
*E-100 Challenge
Over the past few years, we've seen some horrific natural disasters. We've seen Haiti's earthquake, Indonesia's tsunami, New Orlean's hurricane, and Africa's droughts. Meteorologists all over the world try to find reasons for these occurences, but they often fail to do so. Well, what causes them? Is it El Nino, or El Ohim?
When the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt, God cause several natural disasters to punish them. The more stubborn Pharoah got, the more God hit him with bloody water, frogs, locusts, and flies. Why didn't Pharoah just give in? Well, why don't we? God's Word says "If my people who are called by My name would humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." Two things capture my attention out of this passage. One, God wants worship from His people. He doesn't want religious ceremonies or meaningless rhetoric. He wants that one-on-one, face to face contact with His beloved. Two, it seems the condition of our land has a direct correlation with our relationship with our God. The word "if" represents cause and effect. It says because we haven't honored God the way we should, our land is suffering. The instability in our climate may be a depiction of God's heart toward the new laws certain states are accepting. It may also be the way God feels about the way some of we treat each other. I can't say God is directly involved with these disasters, but we all know He'll go to great lengths to get our attention.
Finally, let's make sure we're not like Pharoah. Yeah, I know. It's easy to look down on him but sometimes we're just as stubborn as he was. No matter how many times God sends His messengers (Pastors) to warn us, we still refuse to change. We better though, or who knows what the next storm will bring.
Prayer: Lord You are so gracious and loving. I'm thankful You have my life in Your hands. No matter what storms or floods may come, let me find peace and shelter in You. I desire to be like the children of Israel in Goshen. When You sent the storms and pestilence, none of it effected them. So, keep me in Your care, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Today's Passage: Exodus 6:28-11:10
Memory Verse: 2 Chronicles 7:14
*E-100 Challenge
Over the past few years, we've seen some horrific natural disasters. We've seen Haiti's earthquake, Indonesia's tsunami, New Orlean's hurricane, and Africa's droughts. Meteorologists all over the world try to find reasons for these occurences, but they often fail to do so. Well, what causes them? Is it El Nino, or El Ohim?
When the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt, God cause several natural disasters to punish them. The more stubborn Pharoah got, the more God hit him with bloody water, frogs, locusts, and flies. Why didn't Pharoah just give in? Well, why don't we? God's Word says "If my people who are called by My name would humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." Two things capture my attention out of this passage. One, God wants worship from His people. He doesn't want religious ceremonies or meaningless rhetoric. He wants that one-on-one, face to face contact with His beloved. Two, it seems the condition of our land has a direct correlation with our relationship with our God. The word "if" represents cause and effect. It says because we haven't honored God the way we should, our land is suffering. The instability in our climate may be a depiction of God's heart toward the new laws certain states are accepting. It may also be the way God feels about the way some of we treat each other. I can't say God is directly involved with these disasters, but we all know He'll go to great lengths to get our attention.
Finally, let's make sure we're not like Pharoah. Yeah, I know. It's easy to look down on him but sometimes we're just as stubborn as he was. No matter how many times God sends His messengers (Pastors) to warn us, we still refuse to change. We better though, or who knows what the next storm will bring.
Prayer: Lord You are so gracious and loving. I'm thankful You have my life in Your hands. No matter what storms or floods may come, let me find peace and shelter in You. I desire to be like the children of Israel in Goshen. When You sent the storms and pestilence, none of it effected them. So, keep me in Your care, in Jesus' name. Amen.
4 comments:
I really enjoyed the post today."Doing things the hard way." There’s no question that it was God who hardened Pharoah’s heart, but there was also a reason.
And the reason for God hardening Pharoah’s heart was that God had a plan.Of course, God could have simply let the Israelites out… but God wanted all of Egypt to understand that He was the one true God.
In Exodus 7:5 the Lord says “And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." It’s the same reason why God let only 300 soldiers fight with Gideon. If Gideon won with 30,000 men, who would get the credit? Gideon! Anyone could win a battle with 30,000 men.
But when Gideon defeats an army with 300 men, it becomes pretty obvious that someone greater then Gideon was involved.
Similarly, God let Moses go through all the trouble of dealing with Pharoah so that when the time was right, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses would be known throughout Egypt.
Look at the message God gave Pharoah, through Moses in Exodus 9:15-16: “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 for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Why did God do things the hard way – or the long way? Why did he let the Israelites suffer just a little longer? Why did he let poor old Moses be denied by Pharoah and rejected by his own people so many times? Because God had a much bigger picture in mind than just those Israelites. The fact is, we tend to think small. We see our pain. We see our suffering. We see our frustration. We see only the present time.
God sees much more. God understand much more.
The lesson I learned from Exodus is that God’s primary purpose was not to make everything go as smoothly as possible for his people.
The fact is, if we are expecting God to make things as smooth as possible for us, we will be disappointed. We are still living in a sin-saturated world – and quite often we have to face the consequences of sin, whether it be our own sin or somebody else’s sin.
But that’s not to say God didn’t care about his people.
God knows when a sparrow falls. God looks after the grass in the field; and if God cares about the birds of the air and the grass in the field, which are here today and gone tomorrow, how much more does he care for you and I who are made in his image. Often it is precisely because God cares for us, that he allows us to go through things the hard way.
He knows that it is often through struggles that the great lessons of life are learned; and it is often through struggles that we develop the capacity to care for others.
What Moses learned, and what we also need to learn, is that there is nothing safe or easy about following God’s call. It’s risky business.
Thanks for the Daily Devotions..
It is amazing how we miss the communication target today with access to such advanced technology. We must continue to follow the design that God established from the beginning of time. I (God) speak to my messengers (Pastors), they speak to the body (us), and we relay the message to the sheep (the lost). Exod. 4:16 (NLT) says it well: "Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say." Thank you Pastor for resurrecting that in our spirits last night. It is not our own agenda.
That is a good question to ponder in our mind. We do not have to wonder if God is capable of responding in such a way because we know He has and could very well do it again. He is the same yesterday.... In the last days, He promised these things would be. Looks like signs of the end to me. We must not harden our hearts to the direction of God, it could be very dangerous. For now is the acceptable time.
That is a good question to ponder in our mind. We do not have to wonder if God is capable of responding in such a way because we know He has and could very well do it again. He is the same yesterday.... In the last days, He promised these things would be. Looks like signs of the end to me. We must not harden our hearts to the direction of God, it could be very dangerous. For now is the acceptable time.
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