God's Grand Purposes!
Reading: Exodus 7 - 12
My Verse: "But for this very purpose have I let you live, that I might show you My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth" (9:16).
It is quite fascinating to reread these chapters - to see how the plagues were progressive. LORD God even in this seeming chaos You had a plan. Even though You knew Pharoah's stubborn heart, You started the plagues off easy - You were allowing him, Pharoah, every opportunity to repent, to submit to You. Here in the seventh plague of Hail you tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth"(9:14,15). Here You are telling Pharoah that You could have wiped him out long ago because You are God Almighty! You are being merciful and yet if he does not respond because of his stubborn heart You will use his stubborness - his life- for Your grand purposes. You will show all the earth that You alone are God, "there is none like me in all the earth."
What a thought! That we are each of us a part of Your grand plan, Your grand purposes! You use us whether we submit to You or not as You do with Pharaoh here.
We struggle with that tension between our free will and Your All Knowing. That tension between our need to respond to You and yet our inability to respond to You without Your help and intervention. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). You love us. You call us. It is up to us to respond when You give us that ability. "And so each of us shall give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12).
As I read about the plagues, I see that Pharaoh had many opportunities to respond to You. His own
magicians said to Pharaoh. "This is the finger of God!" (8:19) Even Pharaoh's own people begged him to let the Israelites go. "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God; do you not yet understand and know that Egypt is destroyed?" (10:7). But Pharaoh still hardened his heart to You, LORD God.
It is easy to look at this and think, "What was he thinking?" And yet how often have we been there? How often have we refused to respond to Your tug on our hearts, Your guidance in some direction we don't want to go?
Oh, LORD God, thank You for this lesson. Help me to be ever soft and responsive to what You have to teach me in Your Word. Help me to realize You are Almighty God. You are a loving, compassionate God. I am a part of Your grand purposes and in that knowledge I can be assured that whatever passes this day - I am safe in Your care.
"The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life." Psalm 121:7
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
Reading: Exodus 7 - 12
My Verse: "But for this very purpose have I let you live, that I might show you My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth" (9:16).
It is quite fascinating to reread these chapters - to see how the plagues were progressive. LORD God even in this seeming chaos You had a plan. Even though You knew Pharoah's stubborn heart, You started the plagues off easy - You were allowing him, Pharoah, every opportunity to repent, to submit to You. Here in the seventh plague of Hail you tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth"(9:14,15). Here You are telling Pharoah that You could have wiped him out long ago because You are God Almighty! You are being merciful and yet if he does not respond because of his stubborn heart You will use his stubborness - his life- for Your grand purposes. You will show all the earth that You alone are God, "there is none like me in all the earth."
What a thought! That we are each of us a part of Your grand plan, Your grand purposes! You use us whether we submit to You or not as You do with Pharaoh here.
We struggle with that tension between our free will and Your All Knowing. That tension between our need to respond to You and yet our inability to respond to You without Your help and intervention. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). You love us. You call us. It is up to us to respond when You give us that ability. "And so each of us shall give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12).
As I read about the plagues, I see that Pharaoh had many opportunities to respond to You. His own
magicians said to Pharaoh. "This is the finger of God!" (8:19) Even Pharaoh's own people begged him to let the Israelites go. "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God; do you not yet understand and know that Egypt is destroyed?" (10:7). But Pharaoh still hardened his heart to You, LORD God.
It is easy to look at this and think, "What was he thinking?" And yet how often have we been there? How often have we refused to respond to Your tug on our hearts, Your guidance in some direction we don't want to go?
Oh, LORD God, thank You for this lesson. Help me to be ever soft and responsive to what You have to teach me in Your Word. Help me to realize You are Almighty God. You are a loving, compassionate God. I am a part of Your grand purposes and in that knowledge I can be assured that whatever passes this day - I am safe in Your care.
"The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life." Psalm 121:7
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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