My grandparents told stories. My mom and dad shared, “when I was your age” stories of their past. Now, I am a story teller. I come by this trait naturally! As I trained to be a teacher, I learned quickly that story telling was a virtue passed down to me that can be used to engage students as they learn new skills. If the story included things they had never heard of in their young lives, they listened even more intently. If the story had plot twists that led to an awesome, incredible ending, they even applauded!
God is the greatest story ever told. Jesus, His Son, was known as a Master Teacher and Storyteller who spoke in stories and parables so that mankind could know God. Moses wrote the beginning story of God! It is interesting to note that most biblical scholars agree the bulk of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, was told and written by Moses, inspired by God’s direction. God had purpose for all to be written down. We see that purpose in the opening words of this chapter. God’s purpose for me literally leapt off the page for me this morning!
When God gave Moses the instructions for his next meeting with Pharaoh, He added another reason for the great display of His wonders in the plagues: that the Israelites might be able to tell the generations to come about the awesome power of their great God.
PAUSE TO PRAY AND REFLECT
How do we retell God’s story? Do we treat as merely another Sunday School lesson with a craft or do we lead with God’s power, telling of His magnificent power and love, showing that God did all this because of His great love for us? Yes, there is a difference! Don’t center the focus on the horrible plagues while coloring pictures of frogs. Focus solely on God—Miracle worker, Way Maker, Promise Keeper! There is purpose in all that God does! Seek God first before telling His story!
The magnificent rescue of God was embedded in detailed script for generations to come as they took the telling of the story very seriously and was obedient to God’s direction and purpose in the telling. This purpose was also written into the Passover feast (Exodus 12:26, 27; 13:8, 14, 15), not to be as merely ritual but in honor of God who saves us. Whether in the family or the local church, it’s good and wise for each new generation to learn and appreciate the way God has worked on behalf of previous generations. Recalling and giving thanks for God’s wonderful deeds is one of the basic themes of the Book of Deuteronomy, including what the Lord did to Pharaoh (Deuteronomy 4:34; 7:18, 19; 26:5–8; 29:1–3).
Moses continues to reveal the majesty of God through individual miracles and plagues. The first four plagues turned the Nile to blood and infested the country with frogs, gnats, and flies. Though the entire country of Egypt suffered these plagues, the king refused to free the Israelites. God does not give up.
Exodus 10
The Plague of Locusts
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 4 If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5 They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. 6 They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
8 Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”
9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.”
10 Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. 11 No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.
12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”
13 So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; 14 they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. 15 They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”
18 Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19 And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
The Plague of Darkness
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”
25 But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.”
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”
29 “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
In his angry response, Pharaoh blasphemed the name of God and assumed God’s people would never come back if all of them and their livestock left. He was partially right to assume that. Was God working on his heart? Probably. But Pharoah is beginning to figure out that the powerless, molded gods of Egypt are no match for the power of the God of the Hebrews (who is the only God!).
Who is God? Who is God to us? (You and me)
Do we really believe that what God says is really real?
Do we trust God with our entire life, even in all the day to day details?
Do we take time to seek God first, to be still while letting go of all that is in the world for all the treasure that lies within knowing God?
What might be surrounding us and our families that hinders our view of God?
Are there things we think about and do that break the heart of God?
Our behaviors will reflect what we truly believe daily. Our worries will reflect who we worship most.
Pharaoh was a beaten man, but he wouldn’t admit it. Instead, he used his authority to try to intimidate Moses. He warned Moses that if he came back into the palace to see Pharaoh, he would be killed. There were to be no more official audiences with Pharaoh. But there is one last final plague to come to the Egyptians that will affect Pharaoh personally.
Pharaoh had threatened to kill Moses, but God was going to slay every firstborn son in the land of Egypt and then later drown Pharaoh’s best troops. Despite what Pharaoh said about not seeing Moses, on Passover night, Pharaoh would once again call for Moses and plead for his help. Stay tuned…there is more power of God to come!
“The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is a warning to all of us. If the sinful human heart doesn’t respond by faith to God’s Word, it cannot be transformed by the grace of God). Instead, it will become harder and harder the longer it resists God’s truth. No matter how often God may allow affliction, it will only provoke more disobedience. In the last days, when God sends His terrible judgments on the world, people will curse God and continue in their sins, but they will not repent, (See Revelation). There will be a whole world full of men and women like Pharaoh who will behold God’s judgments and still not repent. As the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’ ” (Hebrews 3:7, 8).” –Warren Wiesbe, Bible Scholar and Commentator
Lord,
We have heard you and we respond with repentant hearts asking for your forgiveness followed by your guidance. Be in all the details of our lives today as we give ourselves to you as an offering of worship and praise for all you have done, are doing, and will do. To you be the glory, honor, and praise forever! What a mighty God we have and serve whose compassion and love never fails! Lead us, Lord.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 