Exodus 10:28–29: “Then Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!’ So Moses said, ‘You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.'”

August 13th, 2019 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Egypt (except for the area of Goshen, where God’s people lived) was struck with 2 more plagues: locusts and then 3 days of darkness. The plague of locusts displayed the weakness of 2 Egyptian gods: Serapia, the protector from locusts; and Seth, the god of crops. And the plague of darkness proved to Egypt that Ra, their god of the sun, was too weak to stand against the Hebrew God. Pharaoh struggled to keep control, saying whatever needed to be said to get relief, but refusing to truly surrender either the Israelites or himself to God.

Many of us are like Pharaoh; we have learned to pray for forgiveness but we refuse to submit. Or like Pharaoh, we offer “prayers” of submission but with strings attached. God cannot be deceived, and the person who tries to trick God Almighty only deceives himself. This time Pharaoh dismissed Moses and Aaron with a death threat, saying if he ever saw them again, he would kill them. Moses, because he understood more than Pharaoh what was going on, answered that they would indeed never see each other again.

Pharaoh couldn’t ignore or outlast God’s plagues because God was determined to save His people. He had promised Abraham long ago that “through his offspring all nations would be blessed.” He had also promised that Abraham’s offspring would inherit the Promised Land and that through his children a Savior would be born. God would not allow a hardhearted tyrant to keep Him from keeping His promises. God was more determined to save the world through the coming Messiah than Pharaoh was on keeping the Israelites in Egypt. God is still determined to save people. We also need to be careful to not underestimate God’s ability to move in our lives. Not only does He have the ability, He also has the desire.

“LORD, move in our lives today. Thank you that You are able and desire to use us.”