Daily Reading
Daily Thought
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ~Exodus 8:1
Twice, God says to Moses, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Exodus 4:21; 7:3), and a hard-hearted Pharaoh refuses to let God’s people go, but what choice does a he have? Is he to blame? If God “hardens whomever he wills,” the apostle Paul asked and (sort of) answered this question, “why does God still find fault? For who can resist God’s will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:18-21). In other words, God is God and you are not, and he does what he wants for his purposes. Not a terribly satisfying answer, but then, God does not have to satisfy me.
God is sovereign, but that does not mean we are puppets. God does not pull our strings, but God’s sovereignty and our freewill walk together, side by side. Of the ten plagues, the Bible says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in four of them; in six, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. God is in charge and Pharaoh cooperates. He is no innocent; he cannot point to God and claim, “You made me do it.”
But why ten times? Why so many plagues? The answer is in the stubbornness of Pharaoh, but also in the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Israel worshipped God; every other nation worshipped gods. So, the one and only true God used the plagues to demonstrate that he is God like no other. The first couple plagues, the Egyptian magicians were able to mimic the work of God, as if God wasn’t unique. But they couldn’t keep up. By the third plague, they admitted, “This is the finger of God,” and God continued seven more plagues to hammer it home. The Egyptians would never forget the Hebrew God, the God of gods, the only true God, and the Israelites would always remember their God who delivered them from bondage.
God is God. That seems obvious, but it’s good to remember.
Daily Prayer
My God, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the One and Only Creator of the heavens and the earth, You alone I worship and adore. Your ways are good and there is none like You. Why would I ever seek good from another source?
May Your Name be known always in my house. May You always be God of my family–we seek no other. May my children and my children’s children (someday!) follow You and worship You. You are my Lord and Savior. I will always remember.
Amen