Scripture

“Very well,” Moses said. “I will never see you again.”

Observation

Pharaoh’s officials are becoming worried about the damage being inflicted on Egypt. Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh that if he refuses to let the Israelites go to worship the Lord, there will be a plague of locusts such as Egypt has never seen before.

Pharaoh tells them that the men can go to worship the Lord, but the women and children must stay behind. So Moses raises his staff, and the locusts descend.

Next, the Lord sends darkness on the land, except where the Israelites live. Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron and tells them the Israelites may go, but they must leave all their livestock behind. Moses tells him they need to take their animals in order to select some to sacrifice to the Lord.

Pharaoh now tells Moses to go away. If he comes back, Moses will die. Moses replies that he will never see Pharaoh’s face again.

Application

The Egyptians believed that their god Osiris caused the plants to grow. The plague of locusts coming at the Lord’s command showed that the Lord was greater than Osiris.

Pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation of the sun god. But the Lord is the one who controls light and darkness.

Pharaoh finally reached a point where he is past relenting or repenting. The next plague demonstrates that the Lord is an existential threat to the people of Egypt.

Sometimes people’s hearts are so hardened towards the Lord that nothing will bring them to a place of repentance. No miracle or sign or revelation or disaster is big enough to take their eyes off themselves and on to God.

We cannot make the judgement about the state of another person’s heart. We should continue to pray for them and share with them when we can, but we should also be realistic.

Prayer

Father, thank you for rescuing me from my sin. May my heart never be hard towards you. Amen.

Scripture

But when Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he and his officials sinned again, and Pharaoh again became stubborn.

Observation

The plagues continue, with all livestock dying, except that belonging to the Israelites. A plague of festering boils follows, and then the worst storm in history destroys the crops of flax and barley.

Pharaoh sees the destruction and pretends to repent. He pleads with Moses to stop the rain and hail. Moses agrees, but says, “I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord.”

Moses lifts his hands to the Lord, and the storm ends. Pharaoh again becomes stubborn, and he refuses to let the Israelites go.

Application

At the height of the storm, Pharaoh confesses that he has sinned against God and promises to let the Israelites go. But when the storm is over, so is Pharaoh’s repentance.

Many people have gone through the motions of repentance during testing times, only to walk away from the Lord when the trial is over.. They treat confession of sin as a bargaining chip to buy God’s favour.

When God’s anger seems to be overcome, they think that they can return to their normal life of self-centred pleasure.

Like Pharaoh, their repentance is not genuine, and so it does not last.

Real repentance is not about confessing our sins in order to get God off our case. No, it is an honest recognition that we have made ourselves god of our own life, and this has not worked.

To repent means to invite God to be on the throne of my life- and to let Him stay there.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, please take the throne of my life, and rule over my thoughts and feelings. I relinquish everything to you. Amen.

Scripture

“This is the finger of God!” the magicians exclaimed to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. He wouldn’t listen to them, just as the Lord predicted.

Observation

Three more plagues infest the land of Egypt. Increasingly, Pharaoh and his magicians recognise that God is in control and their magic cannot compete with His power.

But still Pharaoh remains stubborn, and he refuses to let the Israelites go.

Application

Frogs were revered by Egyptians because of their ability to live in both water and the land. Likewise flies seemed to be able to turn death into life as their young emerged from decaying matter. Biting insects would have made life very unpleasant for everyone.

By the time we get to the plague of flies, the Lord is exempting the land where the Israelites live. Flies do not respect lines on a map, but the Lord ensured that this supernatural plague hurt the Egyptians more than the Israelites.

Both Pharaoh and the magicians can see that a greater power than they can imagine is at work. But Pharaoh remains stubborn.

The idea of losing a large slave population must have seemed threatening to Pharaoh. Maybe he thought that he could manage the crisis, just riding out each plague until things returned to normal.

God cannot be managed, resisted or out-waited. If we are for Him, blessings abound. If we oppose Him, serious consequences will flow like a tsunami.

Whether we are rulers of great nations or humble every day people, surrendering to the Lord Is always the best way.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to surrender to you, to let you have your way in my life. Amen.

Scripture

“I will make the Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.”

Observation

The Lord again commands Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh. Pharaoh demands to see a miracle, so Aaron throws down his staff which turns into a snake. Pharaoh summons his magicians who do a similar miracle, although Aaron’s staff eats their staffs.

Then the Lord tells Moses to meet Pharaoh at the river. When Pharaoh again refuses to release the Israelites, Aaron raises his staff over the river, and the Lord turns it into blood, killing the fish and making it undrinkable.

Pharaoh’s heart remains hard, and he refuses to let God’s people go.

Application

God confronts Pharaoh’s heart, multiplying miracles in Egypt to convince him that the Lord is the one true God.

The plagues that afflict Egypt seem random to us, but to God they had a definite purpose- to destroy Egypt’s religious system and demonstrate that the Lord, the God of the Hebrews is greater than the gods of Egypt, even on their home ground.

The Egyptians worshipped the Nile because it was the source of life and prosperity for them. When the Lord turned it instantly into blood, becoming dead and putrid, it shod that God’s word is greater than the river gods.

This is not just about water, important as that is. It is the religious issue of the source of life.

It is God who gives us life. In many western nations there is a push to liberalise abortion and assisted suicide laws. Soon the State will be seen as the source of life and death.

Christians must proclaim that the Lord, and the Lord alone, gives life.

Prayer

Thank you Father for the gift of life in this world and in the world to come. Amen.

Scripture

But Moses argued with the Lord, saying, “I can’t do it! I am such a clumsy speaker! Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Observation

The clans and the ancestors of Moses and Aaron are listed.

Moses and Aaron are the ones to whom the Lord gave the commandment to go to Pharaoh to demand that he sets God’s people free.

Moses had said to the Lord, “I can’t do it!”

Application

It has been said that we can tell when it is God who calls us to a task by the fact that it is too hard for us in our own ability.

Moses felt that he was incapable of speaking to Pharaoh. This was despite the fact that he had been brought up in Pharaoh’s palace and given all the training and education necessary for being a government leader.

When God calls us, we are often most aware of our inadequacy. This is a good thing because it negates pride.

God does not call the most talented, or the smoothest speaker. Rather, He calls those who are available, and then He equips them for the task.

Just on 24 years ago, God ed Margaret and me to start a new church. We have no idea why it was us, except that we said “Yes” to the call.

We endured many years of very little in the way of salary. We enjoyed countless miracles of God’s provision. And so we persevered.

That is the story of many of God’s people, including Moses. After his initial attempt to rescue the Hebrew people, he fled to the desert and stayed there for 40 years. That was not the end of the story because, as inadequate as Moses felt, He was God’s man for the job.

Prayer

Help me Lord to trust you every day for the things and the skills I need to carry out your plan for my life. Amen.

Scripture

“I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.”

Observation

The Lord tells Moses that not only will Pharaoh let the people of Israel leave Egypt, he will expel them.

The Lord is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the covenant keeping God, and He has heard the cries of His people.

Moses is to tell the people that the Lord is going to redeem them with a powerful arm and acts of judgement. He will bring them into the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Lord tells Moses to go back to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go. He gives Moses and Aaron directions for the Israelites and for Pharaoh.

Application

The Lord is about claiming people for his own. This is not about slavery or control. It is a voluntary association.

How wonderful it is to know that the God f all creation is the God who claims me as His own. We are His people, the chosen ones.

He frees us from captivity- not the bondage of a national tyranny, but the bondage of sin.

We were made for more than the life most people accept as normal. We were meant for Freedom- the Freedom to love, the Freedom to live abundantly, the Freedom of living without sin.

Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice that makes this Freedom possible. All we have to do is to receive His forgiveness.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the knowledge that you are my God and that I belong to you, my Creator and Redeemer. Amen.

Scripture

“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him, and let Israel go? I don;t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

Observation

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, asking him to let the people go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Pharaoh refuses, saying he does not know who the Lord is.

Far from letting the people go, Pharaoh orders the oppression of the Hebrews to increase. From now on they are to find their own straw to make bricks with.

When the people protest, Pharaoh tells them they are just being lazy. The Hebrew leaders relay the order to the people, and they condemn Moses and Aaron for bringing this extra hardship upon them.

Application

Pharaoh was quite cynical about the God of Israel, the Lord. He claimed that he did not know who the Lord was, and therefore would not let the people go to offer sacrifices.

During the world- wide lock downs and restrictions of the Covid pandemic, it has been interesting to see the attitudes of politicians to various groups in different places. While rulers everywhere claim to be led purely by “science”, the actual rules imposed often seem to be arbitrary. Often churches have been considered expendable.

While not using the words attributed to Pharaoh here, the political class seemed to have the same attitude. “I don’t know the Lord. No, I will not let your people go.”

So pubs, restaurants, casinos and Black Lives Matter protests are considered less dangerous than churches. Perhaps this is true, in a prophetic sense.

As the Bible story unfolds, the Lord does set His people free, but Pharaoh and the Egyptians suffer greatly for opposing the Lord.

Prayer

Lord, I pray for freedom for your people in every nation where christians are persecuted. Lord set your people free. Amen.

Scripture

Then the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.

Observation

Moses leaves Jethro, his father-in-law. He takes his wife and sons and heads for Egypt.

Along the way, the Lord confronts Moses. Zipporah, his wife, circumcises their son. Aaron meets up with them along the way, and they travel to Egypt together.

When they call the elders together to tell them all that the Lord has said, Moses also performs the miraculous signs. The people believe and they worship the Lord.

Application

After years of slavery and misery, the Hebrew people finally hear some good news. God is going to rescue them.

It must have been easy to believe that the Lord had abandoned His people and even forgotten about them. But Moses comes along with the message that the Lord has not forgotten them.

When we are feeling discouraged in life, how wonderful it is to remember that God has seen our misery.

This is not just a doctrinal statement. Yes, we know that God sees everything about our lives. Nothing is hidden from Him. More importantly, the Lord sees our misery and has compassion.

God does not just see our suffering- He experiences it and feels it as we do. How awesome is that!

God sees and feels our disappointment, our grief, our suffering, and our failing. He is not looking for things to smite us for, but He looks for reasons to show compassion, and He walks through our difficulties with us.

Prayer

Lord, I thank you that you see my misery, and you turn it into joy. You walk with me in the tough times and turn them into victories of your grace. Thank you. Amen.

Scripture

Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

Observation

Moses asks the Lord, “What if they don’t believe me?” The Lord tells Moses to throw down his staff, and it turns into a snake. When he catches it by the tail it is restored to a staff. Then the Lord tells Moses to put his hand inside his cloak, and it is covered with skin disease. He puts his hand back in, and it is restored.

The Lord tells Moses that if the people don’t believe Moses’ words, they will believe these signs.

Moses then claims he is not very good with words, but the Lord says that He is the one who makes a man’s mouth and who decides whether he should speak. He appoints Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be Moses’ spokesman.

Application

Moses is having a conversation with the Lord who is speaking to him from a bush that burns without being consumed. Yet Moses is reluctant to go as the messenger of this powerful God.

The same Lord calls us to go to our friends and neighbours with the wonderful message that Jesus saves. Yet we have the same objections that Moses had- they will not believe me, they will think I am crazy.

To these objections the Lord says that He designed our mouths and can direct us to speak. It is His problem whether people listen or not.

The Lord gives each of us a message to take to a person or a group of people, perhaps even a whole nation. Whether it is the gospel message, a prophecy or a word of encouragement, we must trust God to speak through us, and leave the results to Him.

Prayer

Lord please give me courage and confidence in you so that I can share your message of salvation to the people I see each day. Amen.

Scripture

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire form the middle of a bush. Though the bush was engulfed by flames, it did not burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.

Observation

One day, while tending his father-in-law’s sheep, the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush. The Lord identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Lord tells Moses that He is about to set His people free and so Moses is to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let them go. When Moses objects, the Lord says that He will be with him.

Moses then asks the Lord what name will he tell the people is the name of the God who has sent him? The Lord says “Tell them ‘I Am has sent you.’”

The Lord warns Moses that, although the elders of Israel will receive him, Pharaoh will resist until, through a series of miracles, the Lord will strike the Egyptians.

Application

This must have been an awesome sight for Moses to see- a bush that burned without being consumed. It was unusual enough for Moses to stop what he was doing and listen to the voice of the Lord.

One reason that we don’t hear the voice of the Lord is that we don’t make space for that. We live in a noisy world, surrounded by electronically generated voices clamouring for our attention. We live in an “always on” world,

To hear God, we have to silence the other voices. We need to turn our phones, computers and TVs off then learn to turn our anxious brain off as well. Then, as we focus on God, we can start to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

It takes time, effort and conscious decision, but we need to do it to connect to the true God, the source of our life.

Prayer

Come Holy Spirit and speak to me in the stillness. Be the burning bush for me today. Amen.