Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

As we study the account of the plagues of Egypt, we need to keep in mind the purposes God was fulfilling through these momentous events. First of all, He was showing His great power to Pharaoh and his officials and proving to them that He alone is the true and living God. At the same time, the Lord was also exposing the futility of the Egyptian religion and the vanity of the many gods they worshiped, including Pharaoh himself.  

Do we really believe what God says is really real?  The depth of our belief will affect our behaviors.

All that God did to Egypt was a reminder to His people that their God was fighting for them and they didn’t have to worry or be afraid.  When get overwhelmed with life is usually when we are trying to control life and do it all our way.  Let go of that notion and let God do what He does best!  Watch what God will do—even today!

Exodus 9, The Message

Strike Five: Animals

^1-4 God said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them and continue to hold on to them, I’m giving you fair warning: God will come down hard on your livestock out in the fields—horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep—striking them with a severe disease. God will draw a sharp line between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. Not one animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵ Then God set the time: “Tomorrow God will do this thing.”

^6-7 And the next day God did it. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one animal of the Israelites died. Pharaoh sent men to find out what had happened and there it was: none of the livestock of the Israelites had died—not one death. But Pharaoh stayed stubborn. He wouldn’t release the people.

Strike Six: Boils

^8-11 God said to Moses and Aaron, “Take fistfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses throw it into the air right before Pharaoh’s eyes; it will become a film of fine dust all over Egypt and cause sores, an eruption of boils on people and animals throughout Egypt.” So they took soot from a furnace, stood in front of Pharaoh, and threw it up into the air. It caused boils to erupt on people and animals. The magicians weren’t able to compete with Moses this time because of the boils—they were covered with boils just like everyone else in Egypt.

¹² God hardened Pharaoh in his stubbornness. He wouldn’t listen, just as God had said to Moses.

Strike Seven: Hail

^13-19 God said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. This time I am going to strike you and your servants and your people with the full force of my power so you’ll get it into your head that there’s no one like me anywhere in all the Earth. You know that by now I could have struck you and your people with deadly disease and there would be nothing left of you, not a trace. But for one reason only I’ve kept you on your feet: To make you recognize my power so that my reputation spreads in all the Earth. You are still building yourself up at my people’s expense. You are not letting them go. So here’s what’s going to happen: At this time tomorrow I’m sending a terrific hailstorm—there’s never been a storm like this in Egypt from the day of its founding until now. So get your livestock under roof—everything exposed in the open fields, people and animals, will die when the hail comes down.’”

^20-21 All of Pharaoh’s servants who had respect for God’s word got their workers and animals under cover as fast as they could, but those who didn’t take God’s word seriously left their workers and animals out in the field.

²² God said to Moses: “Stretch your hands to the skies. Signal the hail to fall all over Egypt on people and animals and crops exposed in the fields of Egypt.”

^23-26 Moses lifted his staff to the skies and God sent cracks of thunder and hail shot through with lightning strikes. God rained hail down on the land of Egypt. The hail came, hail and lightning—a fierce hailstorm. There had been nothing like it in Egypt in its entire history. The hail hit hard all over Egypt. Everything exposed out in the fields, people and animals and crops, was smashed. Even the trees in the fields were shattered. Except for Goshen where the Israelites lived; there was no hail in Goshen.

^27-28 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said, “I’ve sinned for sure this time—God is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to God. We’ve had enough of God’s thunder and hail. I’ll let you go. The sooner you’re out of here the better.”

^29-30 Moses said, “As soon as I’m out of the city, I’ll stretch out my arms to God. The thunder will stop and the hail end so you’ll know that the land is God’s land. Still, I know that you and your servants have no respect for God.”

^31-32 (The flax and the barley were ruined, for they were just ripening, but the wheat and spelt weren’t hurt—they ripen later.)

³³ Moses left Pharaoh and the city and stretched out his arms to God. The thunder and hail stopped; the storm cleared.

^34-35 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he kept right on sinning, stubborn as ever, both he and his servants. Pharaoh’s heart turned rock-hard. He refused to release the Israelites, as God had ordered through Moses.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

May we live our lives truly believing God and what He says.  When we do “all fear is gone”, as our favorite hymn states.  Fear and worry dissipate when doubts disappear.  Jesus taught this Truth and later His disciples writing down all He said, consistently came back to these tenants of our faith. 

True belief with “as a child” faith in God brings to higher thinking and understanding about who God is.  God is for us not against us, God loved us before we knew we could love Him back.  God sent His Son to take our punishment for sins.  God IS the One and Only God, the God who can do the impossible.  There is NO ONE like our God!  So—

“Believe and be saved”—”And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Romans 10:13

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Romans 8:31

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.  1 John 4:18

God will take care of His people.  God “drew a sharp line” between His People and their oppressor.  God will always take care of us.  God cannot lie, never turns back on His promises and loves always without conditions!

God never changes. God’s unfailing love for us drives Him to care for us through good times and challenging times on earth.  He is God—we are not.

“Take courage”, says Jesus, I have overcome the world!”

And closing with a Psalm of praise; “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24

Lord,

Thank you for encouragement today.  You are with me right now as I write this and meditate on your words.  Now, help me to live what I say I believe!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

(By Bill & Gloria Gaither)

Currently, we are in the last days of summer.  The gnats and flies (along with mosquitoes) are making a comeback outside while we garden or try to eat a lunch on the back porch.  To say we do not like these pesky insects is an understatement.  We especially get annoyed when they come into our home, hover around our food and land on our faces while we are trying to eat!  Maybe we need to pray like Moses, asking God to get rid of them all!  This mere nuisance is a reminder of the story of God through Moses about the power our God has over all His creation!  God controls the gnats and flies—AND frogs! There is no one like our God!

What God does is amazing!  What God always does is beyond our wildest imaginations!  Don’t let these acts of power slide by our deeper thinking.  God even controlled WHO the flies landed on!  “I’ll set Goshen where my people live aside as a sanctuary—no flies in Goshen. That will show you that I am God in this land. I’ll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine.”  Wait, what?!  Yes!  There is NO ONE like our God!

My prayer…Could our home and yard be a sanctuary like Goshen with no flies, gnats or mosquitoes?  Nothing is impossible with God!  Then again, maybe we need to go a bit deeper into the story…it’s not about the creepy frogs and pesky insects as much as it is about the power of God. 

Exodus 8, The Message

Strike Two: Frogs

^1-4 God said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them, I’m warning you, I’ll hit the whole country with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs—they’ll come up into your houses, into your bedrooms and into your beds, into your servants’ quarters, among the people, into your ovens and pots and pans. They’ll be all over you, all over everyone—frogs everywhere, on and in everything!’”

⁵ God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Wave your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds. Bring up frogs on the land of Egypt.’”

⁶ Aaron stretched his staff over the waters of Egypt and a mob of frogs came up and covered the country.

⁷ But again the magicians did the same thing using their incantations—they also produced frogs in Egypt.

⁸ Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to God to rid us of these frogs. I’ll release the people so that they can make their sacrifices and worship God.”

⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “Certainly. Set the time. When do you want the frogs out of here, away from your servants and people and out of your houses? You’ll be rid of frogs except for those in the Nile.”

^10-11 “Make it tomorrow.”

Moses said, “Tomorrow it is—so you’ll realize that there is no God like our God. The frogs will be gone. You and your houses and your servants and your people, free of frogs. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile.”

^12-14 Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses prayed to God about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. God responded to Moses’ prayer: The frogs died off—houses, courtyards, fields, all free of frogs. They piled the frogs in heaps. The country reeked of dead frogs.

¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that he had some breathing room, he got stubborn again and wouldn’t listen to Moses and Aaron. Just as God had said.

Strike Three: Gnats

¹⁶ God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and strike the dust. The dust will turn into gnats all over Egypt.’”

¹⁷ He did it. Aaron grabbed his staff and struck the dust of the Earth; it turned into gnats, gnats all over people and animals. All the dust of the Earth turned into gnats, gnats everywhere in Egypt.

¹⁸ The magicians tried to produce gnats with their spells but this time they couldn’t do it. There were gnats everywhere, all over people and animals.

¹⁹ The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s doing.” But Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn’t listen. Just as God had said.

Strike Four: Flies

^20-23 God said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes down to the water. Tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you don’t release my people, I’ll release swarms of flies on you, your servants, your people, and your homes. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground under their feet will be thick with flies. But when it happens, I’ll set Goshen where my people live aside as a sanctuary—no flies in Goshen. That will show you that I am God in this land. I’ll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

²⁴ And God did just that. Thick swarms of flies in Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his servants. All over Egypt, the country ruined by flies.

²⁵ Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God—but do it here in this country.”

^26-27 Moses said, “That would not be wise. What we sacrifice to our God would give great offense to Egyptians. If we openly sacrifice what is so deeply offensive to Egyptians, they’ll kill us. Let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, just as he instructed us.”

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “All right. I’ll release you to go and sacrifice to your God in the wilderness. Only don’t go too far. Now pray for me.”

²⁹ Moses said, “As soon as I leave here, I will pray to God that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don’t play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to God.”

^30-32 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God did what Moses asked. He got rid of the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and his people. There wasn’t a fly left. But Pharaoh became stubborn once again and wouldn’t release the people.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Magicians of Pharaoh came to the limits of their evil power.  I’m reminded immediately of our assurance from John, Jesus’ beloved disciple who writes, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  Satan, the Prince of this world, as Jesus calls him, is NO MATCH for God who lives in us because of Jesus’ redemption of us from the world.  We must tap into God’s power, the same power that rose Jesus from death!

“Ain’t some flies on some of you guys, but there ain’t no flies on me!  Huh!”  This church camp cheer is about this very story…or could be.  Mm, did the Goshenites begin the chant?  I wonder.  But what I do know and believe about our God is this:  Believers are not immune from the “flies in the ointment” of our existence but we cling to and rely on power of God to see us through all our circumstances and situations no matter what happens around us or to us.  There is no one like our God! Huh!

“Do you finally believe? But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”–Jesus, John 16:32-33

Bear in mind as we travel through the subsequent plagues that God has a plan, God will execute His plan and God will overcome those in the world of Moses and His People.  His Promises are unfailing.  His love is everlasting.  Where God sends; He will provide.  What God says; God will do.  It would be in our best interest to do what God says in our own lives!  Trust God, He knows what is best for each one of us.  He loves us more that we can comprehend!

Yes, there is NO ONE like our God!  Still, always, and forever! 

Unfortunately, believers like you and I today make similar “Egyptian compromises” as we seek to serve the Lord. The enemy tells us we do not have to be separated from sin because we can serve God “in the land.” God’s reply is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14–18. “Don’t go too far away,” the enemy whispers, “or people will call you a fanatic.” James 1:27 and 4:4 demolish that proposal.

Let my people go, is still “on the table” of discussion today as the evil one does everything in his limited power to keep us in bondage to him.  Don’t give the enemy a seat at your table!

True service to God means giving Him authority over all our possessions and all the people in our family for whom we are responsible. Not to do so is to disobey Mark 10:13–16; Ephesians 6:4; and Deuteronomy 6:6–13. Once we start to negotiate the will of God and see how close we can get to the world, we have already disobeyed Him in our hearts.  Don’t mess with God.  There is no one like our God!

The story of God does not end here…stay tuned!  God wasn’t through speaking to Pharaoh or judging the gods of Egypt. Jehovah God had seven more plagues to send, and when they were finished, the nation of Egypt would be bankrupt. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). 

Lord,

I come to you with a humbled heart.  Rid me of the arrogance that creeps in when I think I’m in control which is as annoying as insects hovering around food.  Take my life, all of it, and use me for Your glory.  I’m yours.  I’m listening.  You are the Bread of Life and the Living Water for my soul.  There is no one like You!  I trust in You, dear Jesus!

In Jesus Name, Amen

God will do what it takes in our lives to get our attention.  After Moses listens to God he tells him three times of his stutter, his inability to talk eloquently to other people, especially the command to speak to Pharoah the leader of Egypt!  I love what God commands of Moses next…LOOK AT ME!  Stop looking at who you are and what you do, but look at Me and what I will do through you.  We need this message often, don’t we?  Look up.  Look at God.

It reminds me of childhood. My parents, mom especially used these exact three words to get my attention…LOOK AT ME!  The words were emphasized with volume with a bit of aggravation in her tone.  The body language explained the rest with hands on hips.  She wanted my attention to tell me something very important to her that she thought I needed to hear so I would do exactly what she wanted me to do.  It was clear, she wanted my attention.

God says, “Look at Me” often in his word.  Why?  Because what He says is going to be the best for us.  When we look up the vision of what is around us grows blurry and dim.  We see God for who He is and what He can do—in us, through us and all around us.  When we realize God is in control of all circumstances and situations of this life and the life we will live with Him someday.  We gain strength by knowing He is with us.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks for God later in God’s Word…

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD. I will restore you to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:13-14

“Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other..”  Isaiah 45:22

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Jesus, God’s Son and spokesman said, “Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.  Matthew 6:31-33

“Look up, look at Me, I will give you all you need.” –God, our Father

Genesis 7, The Message

^1-5 God told Moses, “Look at me. I’ll make you as a god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell it to Pharaoh. Then he will release the Israelites from his land. At the same time I am going to put Pharaoh’s back up and follow it up by filling Egypt with signs and wonders. Pharaoh is not going to listen to you, but I will have my way against Egypt and bring out my soldiers, my people the Israelites, from Egypt by mighty acts of judgment. The Egyptians will realize that I am God when I step in and take the Israelites out of their country.”

^6-7 Moses and Aaron did exactly what God commanded. Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

* * *

^8-9 Then God spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, ‘Prove yourselves. Perform a miracle,’ then tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh: It will turn into a snake.’”

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what God commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and it turned into a snake.

^11-12 Pharaoh called in his wise men and sorcerers. The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their spells: each man threw down his staff and they all turned into snakes. But then Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

¹³ Yet Pharaoh was as stubborn as ever—he wouldn’t listen to them, just as God had said.

Strike One: Blood

^14-18 God said to Moses: “Pharaoh is a stubborn man. He refuses to release the people. First thing in the morning, go and meet Pharaoh as he goes down to the river. At the shore of the Nile take the staff that turned into a snake and say to him, ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with this message, “Release my people so that they can worship me in the wilderness.” So far you haven’t listened. This is how you’ll know that I am God. I am going to take this staff that I’m holding and strike this Nile River water: The water will turn to blood; the fish in the Nile will die; the Nile will stink; and the Egyptians won’t be able to drink the Nile water.’”

¹⁹ God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and wave it over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water—so that they turn to blood.’ There’ll be blood everywhere in Egypt—even in the pots and pans.”

^20-21 Moses and Aaron did exactly as God commanded them. Aaron raised his staff and hit the water in the Nile with Pharaoh and his servants watching. All the water in the Nile turned into blood. The fish in the Nile died; the Nile stank; and the Egyptians couldn’t drink the Nile water. The blood was everywhere in Egypt.

^22-25 But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their incantations. Still Pharaoh remained stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to them as God had said. He spun around and went home, never giving it a second thought. But all the Egyptians had to dig inland from the river for water because they couldn’t drink the Nile water.

Seven days went by after God had struck the Nile.

The story of God continues…stay tuned!

Lord,

Thank you for your word that teaches, encourages, corrects and gives us hope and life.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!  Yes!

It happens to all of us.  Our faith is strong and powerful after hearing a great message or while serving in ways that are making a difference in lives.  But then the tide changes.  Everything seems to all fall apart, (to us) and then our minds try to explain it—in unhealthy ways.  We first think, surely this is not the way it is.  As troubles seem to mount, we think; has God left us to wallow in this?  As the misery or attacks become harsher, we assume God is not there and we begin to blame others because He is not. We turn on each other!  We try to fix it.  Then we blame ourselves with self-loathing for who we are not.

God knows this about us.  God knew this about Moses.  God called upon a man who stutters.  But, get this friend, we need to realize that God wasn’t concerned at what Moses didn’t have, God’s purpose was for Moses to know God so well that His power would be evident to Moses.  Moses was learning, slowly like all of us, that what He has been commanded/called to do is not about him—it’s about God!  This is God’s story.  It is about I AM, who provides the exit path, the Way to bring his people out.  It is about God who will display His power in the rescue from slavery.  God is the One and Only who can redeem the “sons of Jacob”, the Israelites, while showing the rest of the unbelieving world how great God is as He intervenes with “great acts of judgment.  Yes! “I AM will be their God, taking them in as His own, under His protection.  “Ill be God to you.”

And that’s not all! The Promise to Abraham and his descendants is still intact.  God is eternally faithful.  God never changes in His great love for His people.  God will do what He promises.  God does what He says He will do.  Always. God was, is and always will be God.  And they are not. And we are not—God.

Genesis 6, The Message

God said to Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’ll do to Pharaoh: With a strong hand he’ll send them out free; with a strong hand he’ll drive them out of his land.”

^2-6 God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, “I am God. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as The Strong God, but by my name God (I-Am-Present) I was not known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the country in which they lived as sojourners. But now I’ve heard the groanings of the Israelites whom the Egyptians continue to enslave and I’ve remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites:

^6-8 “I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”

⁹ But when Moses delivered this message to the Israelites, they didn’t even hear him—they were that beaten down in spirit by the harsh slave conditions.

^10-11 Then God said to Moses, “Go and speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he will release the Israelites from his land.”

¹² Moses answered God, “Look—the Israelites won’t even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And besides, I stutter.”

¹³ But God again laid out the facts to Moses and Aaron regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he again commanded them to lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

The Family Tree of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴ These are the heads of the tribes:

The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi—these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman—these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶ These are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their birth: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷ The sons of Gershon by family: Libni and Shimei.

¹⁸ The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived to be 133.

¹⁹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.

These are the sons of Levi in the order of their birth.

²⁰ Amram married his aunt Jochebed and she had Aaron and Moses. Amram lived to be 137.

²¹ The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri.

²² The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³ Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she had Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴ The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵ Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel and she had Phinehas.

These are the heads of the Levite families, family by family.

^26-27 This is the Aaron and Moses whom God ordered: “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt clan by clan.” These are the men, Moses and Aaron, who told Pharaoh king of Egypt to release the Israelites from Egypt.

“I’ll Make You as a God to Pharaoh”

²⁸ And that’s how things stood when God next spoke to Moses in Egypt.

²⁹ God addressed Moses, saying, “I am God. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”

³⁰ And Moses answered, “Look at me. I stutter. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The message is clear and understandable.  God is God and we are not.

God’s love is evident to us throughout His story.  God’s love is the same now and forever for He also provided The Way for us to be free from all the sin that enslaves us to this worldview thinking and behaving.  His new plan and promise to redeem us was fulfilled in sending His Son to take the punishment for our sin and in that act reconciled and restored us to God’s family, His people.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”  2 Corinthians 5:18

God has called and commanded all of us, (Jesus in Matthew 28) to speak for Him, pointing people to know, believe, repent and be reconciled to God through Jesus.  God gave us His Son as the example of how to love, what it means to be a servant, with His power working in and through us (comparable to Moses!) to bring people OUT of where they are and INTO His Holy Presence.

“Believe and be saved” is what God has called all of us to say to our world of Pharaohs.    

“But I stutter, God.”  

And God says; “What does that have to do with my call on your life?”

Lord,

You are God and we are not.  Realizing this every day actually releases us from the stress we put on ourselves for trying to be you to other people. That is clearly not our work.  You commanded us to go and make disciples as we serve as your followers ourselves.  We are simply telling your story for your glory so that others might know you, believe in You and be saved from sin.  We tell, You save.  We go, You provide the ways and means.  Help us to always remember our place in your work.  Thank you for all you are and all you do.In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“A three-hour tour, a three-hour tour…”  Are you singing the theme song to Gilligan’s Island yet?  Just this phrase is a trigger to sing the song for me.  Okay, now the song is stuck in our heads.  Sorry.  Pull up a worship song. 

But, seriously, doesn’t this sound like what Moses/Aaron are asking Pharoah as God directed them to say?  “A three-day tour, a three-day tour…God said!

Gilligan’s Island recap:  What was going to be a pleasant ride, set free to enjoy a glorious three-hour tour on the waters of the sea turned ugly very quickly.  The three-hour tour ended up in shipwreck on an island where lives were altered forever—at least until the sitcom ended with a rescue.  It was pretty amazing to have so many survival “props”, though, right?! 

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour…

This silly story was a depiction of life where things get worse before they get better.

Exodus 5, The Message

Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh

After that Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh. They said, “God, the God of Israel, says, ‘Free my people so that they can hold a festival for me in the wilderness.’”

² Pharaoh said, “And who is God that I should listen to him and send Israel off? I know nothing of this so-called ‘God’ and I’m certainly not going to send Israel off.”

³ They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can worship our God lest he strike us with either disease or death.”

^4-5 But the king of Egypt said, “Why on earth, Moses and Aaron, would you suggest the people be given a holiday? Back to work!” Pharaoh went on, “Look, I’ve got all these people freeloading, and now you want to reward them with time off?”

^6-9 Pharaoh took immediate action. He sent down orders to the slave-drivers and their underlings: “Don’t provide straw for the people for making bricks as you have been doing. Make them get their own straw. And make them produce the same number of bricks—no reduction in their daily quotas! They’re getting lazy. They’re going around saying, ‘Give us time off so we can worship our God.’ Crack down on them. That’ll cure them of their whining, their god-fantasies.”

^10-12 The slave-drivers and their underlings went out to the people with their new instructions. “Pharaoh’s orders: No more straw provided. Get your own straw wherever you can find it. And not one brick less in your daily work quota!” The people scattered all over Egypt scrambling for straw.

¹³ The slave-drivers were merciless, saying, “Complete your daily quota of bricks—the same number as when you were given straw.”

¹⁴ The Israelite foremen whom the slave-drivers had appointed were beaten and badgered. “Why didn’t you finish your quota of bricks yesterday or the day before—and now again today?”

^15-16 The Israelite foremen came to Pharaoh and cried out for relief: “Why are you treating your servants like this? Nobody gives us any straw and they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look at us—we’re being beaten. And it’s not our fault.”

^17-18 But Pharaoh said, “Lazy! That’s what you are! Lazy! That’s why you whine, ‘Let us go so we can worship God.’ Well then, go—go back to work. Nobody’s going to give you straw, and at the end of the day you better bring in your full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹ The Israelite foremen saw that they were in a bad way, having to go back and tell their workers, “Not one brick short in your daily quota.”

^20-21 As they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. The foremen said to them, “May God see what you’ve done and judge you—you’ve made us stink before Pharaoh and his servants! You’ve put a weapon in his hand that’s going to kill us!”

^22-23 Moses went back to God and said, “My Master, why are you treating this people so badly? And why did you ever send me? From the moment I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, things have only gotten worse for this people. And rescue? Does this look like rescue to you?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

As most stories go, “it gets worse before it gets better” can be applied here as Moses does what God says with the resistance God told him he would have.  God always knows.  But God also knows the way to rescue.  We need to realize that when we are in the middle of our own “three-hour tour” that takes us into the storms of life.  God knows. God cares. God has a plan. 

Jesus, while on this earth told his disciples and reminds us—”in this world you will have trouble, but relax, (take heart, be encouraged), I have overcome the world.  (John 16:33)  I know it’s hard to relax until the storm dies down but we have greater tools at hand when our trust is fully in our Savior as Lord of our lives, who in just three days was raised to life forever—our HOPE! 

Do you feel shipwrecked on an island of no hope, it seems, of rescue? 

Are you in the “getting worse” stage?

Friends, I hear you!  I’ve been there many times.  Our trust is tested.  We want to bail from doing what God said.  We are not getting the results in life we thought would happen.  We are tired, tested and testy in our attitudes.  People are overwhelming us with questions we cannot answer…ugh! 

Our response is often similar to Moses’ honest pleas for help while doing God’s will—

WHY?  Why is this happening (like you warned us it would)?  Why is it worse instead of better?  Why did you send me to do this in the first place?  “Rescue, does THIS look like rescue to you?”

I’m not sure I could be this gritty in my honesty but then I think, God knows who I am and what I am feeling.  We should be as honest as Moses with God but we can do it with humility and respect.  This is what it means to have the “fear of God” in our hearts.  We know God enough to know He has our best interests at heart.  We know He loves us more than we can imagine.  We “fear” (respect) His awesome power and what He is capable of doing IN the rescue.  This fear-respect-awe leads to letting go of our efforts and accepting His will and plan completely.  The details of the rescue may not be what we expect, (it rarely is), but it will be a rescue—

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!”  Paul, writing to the churches while in prison—Ephesians 3:20) 

A three-hour tour, A three-day tour…Life altering no matter which way you look at it!

It’s not over…stay tuned!

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us the hard lessons of letting go of our puny wills and weak plans by clinging to the power of your will, purposes and plan in us and through us.  Life is better, transformational, but it does get worse before it gets better because of what you must do IN us while rescuing us from ourselves and our selfishness. Thank you for your loving faithfulness and patience with me.  I know you are not finished yet with me!  I love you, Lord, heart, mind and soul.  Help me to love like you love—unconditionally.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!

We all see it—in others.  Then, if we are honest, we realize we all do it from time to time, too.  What is it?  Objecting to what God asks of us.  We question with a “pros and cons” list of why we can’t do what God says right now.  We object to what God is telling us by procrastinating, arguing with God with a plea of ignorance or false humility, or by simply walking away from what He has clearly shown us to be and do.  But God doesn’t give up easily—and that is a blessed miracle for each one of us! 

However, we can be so obstinate as we come dangerously close to crossing the line of God’s patience.  Our first thought, like Moses, at God’s “big ask” of us most often is “I’m not good enough”.  Right?  But then God reminds us that if He asked us to do it, He will make us more than worthy to fulfill His purpose in and through us.  Where He guides; He provides!

Exodus 4, The Message

Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”

² So God said, “What’s that in your hand?”

“A staff.”

³ “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!

^4-5 God said to Moses, “Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. “That’s so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

⁶ God then said, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.

⁷ He said, “Put your hand back under your shirt.” He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before.

^8-9 “So if they don’t trust you and aren’t convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn’t, if even after these two signs they don’t trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground.”

¹⁰ Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”

^11-12 God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”

¹³ He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!”

^14-17 God got angry with Moses: “Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you’ll use it to do the signs.”

* * *

¹⁸ Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said, “I need to return to my relatives who are in Egypt. I want to see if they’re still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go. And peace be with you.”

¹⁹ God said to Moses in Midian: “Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey for the return trip to Egypt. He had a firm grip on the staff of God.

^21-23 God said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you’ll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go. Then you are to tell Pharaoh, ‘God’s Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! I told you, “Free my son so that he can serve me.” But you refused to free him. So now I’m going to kill your son, your firstborn.’”

* * *

^24-26 On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ member with it. She said, “Oh! You’re a bridegroom of blood to me!” Then God let him go. She used the phrase “bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision.

* * *

^27-28 God spoke to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron the message that God had sent him to speak and the wonders he had commanded him to do.

^29-31 So Moses and Aaron proceeded to round up all the leaders of Israel. Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses and demonstrated the wonders before the people. And the people trusted and listened believingly that God was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites and knew all about their affliction. They bowed low and they worshiped.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“What if they won’t believe” really means “I do not believe.” Moses was concerned about his credentials before the elders, so God gave him three signs to convince the elders that he was truly God’s chosen servant. 

When God speaks to us;  Believe.

Moses completely missed the message of God’s name and miraculous power. “I Am” is all that we need in every circumstance of life, and it’s foolish for us to argue, “I am not.”

Moses was making the mistake of looking at himself instead of looking to God. The God who made us is able to use the gifts and abilities He has given us to accomplish the tasks He assigns to us.  Who God sends; He supplies.

False humility is dangerous thinking and behaving and leads to objecting to what God has to say and want God wants to do in us and through us.  False humility is basically a “cop-out”.  Humility isn’t thinking poorly of ourselves; it’s simply not thinking of ourselves at all but making God everything.

The humble servant thinks only of God’s will and God’s glory, not his or her own inadequacy, success, or failure. Moses was clothing his pride and unbelief in a hollow confession of weakness.

“Lord, please, send anybody else!” was Moses’ final plea. Moses calls Him “Lord” and yet was refusing to obey His orders. Most of us understand that attitude because we’ve made the same mistake. Friends, We regularly resist, ignore, or deflect God’s commands—just as Moses did. We need to remember that if God isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all. Ouch, right?!

God knows us better than we know ourselves, so we must trust Him and obey what He tells us to do. When we tell God our weaknesses, we aren’t sharing anything He doesn’t already know. The will of God will never lead you where the power of God can’t enable you, so walk by faith in His promises.

God appointed Aaron to be the spokesperson for Moses, but Aaron wasn’t always a help to his brother.  Aaron was the one who conspired with the people to create a golden calf to worship later, defying God!  Aaron was also responsible for causing a riff between Moses and the people through gossip.  Mm, just like we do in God’s church, right?  God will sometimes give us what WE think we must have, but then we must live with it later.  How God must deeply sigh at our requests, negative attitudes, objectional thinking and behaviors, and our obstinance when what He is doing comes from a heart of compassion and deep love for all of us.

How much proof do we need to know that God loves us and wants His best for us?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16  God so loved; He gave.  God gave His Son, a part of Himself, to stand in our place, taking the punishment for our own sin. He died and rose again with each one of us on His mind.  He is the Truth, the only Way to eternal Life.

Believe, ask for His forgiveness, and be saved from self and our sin.  Object no more to the call of God.  Live forever with the One who loves us most!  He is our Hope, the One and Only who loves us most!  And He will always be with us!  He proves that to me over and over again in the course of a day.  Look up, see God at work in our lives!

Moses goes to the elders with Aaron.  On hearing that God was concerned for them and was about to rescue them, they bowed in grateful worship. Worship is the logical response of God’s people to God’s grace and goodness.

Lord,

Thank you for your unconditional love for your created!  Thank you for your wisdom, longsuffering patience with us, as well as your protection and provision.  Thank you for saving our souls and freeing us from the sin that entangles our lives.  Thank you for your ongoing, continual transformation of our hearts, minds and souls.   Thank you for this lesson of objectional response in Moses that eventually turns out for good.  Thank you for your teaching.  I’m yours.  Show me your ways and I will walk in them.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

God is a God who loves to get our attention when we are dulled by life’s ordinary days.  It might happen through a great experience, a good conversation with a person we don’t normally see from day to day or it might be in times that are challenging to us where we don’t see a way out.  No matter what our day looks like, God has a way of getting us to stop, pause for a moment and look at the extraordinary actions of God while gaining a new perspective or even a new direction on a new path HE wants us to follow.  God has done that for Randy and I many times.  I’m sure God does that for you—just like He did for Moses. 

Stop and look right now!  Stop, pause to remember and praise God in gratitude for those burning bushes that sent you in the direction that God wanted you to go.  What lessons did you learn along the way? 

What doubts did you have when you first heard of the change in direction? 

Who went with you? 

Was obedience immediate? 

When you said yes, did you watch God clear the path as you joined Him in His work? 

And finally, who have you told? 

What great testimonies we have about God who gets our attention with His plan to follow Him in His work!  What a privilege it is to follow our God! What great lessons we learn along the way!  What a Mighty God we love and serve!  How amazing it is that God, who can do anything, asks us to join Him in His work all because of his great love and passionate care for us! 

Who have we told lately of what God has done and is doing in our lives as we follow His will?  What IS our story of God working in us?

Moses tells His Story of God working in Him…may we learn from Moses just how great God is.  God was, is and always will be God.  And we are not.  God is I AM—since the beginning.  Bear that in mind as we read and learn.

Exodus 3, The Message

^1-2 Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.

³ Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

⁴ God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”

⁵ God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”

⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

^7-8 God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

^9-10 “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² “I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God continued with Moses: “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.

^16-17 “Now be on your way. Gather the leaders of Israel. Tell them, ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I’ve looked into what’s being done to you in Egypt, and I’ve determined to get you out of the affliction of Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, a land brimming over with milk and honey.”’

¹⁸ “Believe me, they will listen to you. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness where we will worship God—our God.’

^19-22 “I know that the king of Egypt won’t let you go unless forced to, so I’ll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts—oh, my miracles will send them reeling!—after which they’ll be glad to send you off. I’ll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians—when you leave, you won’t leave empty-handed! Each woman will ask her neighbor and any guests in her house for objects of silver and gold, for jewelry and extra clothes; you’ll put them on your sons and daughters. Oh, you’ll clean the Egyptians out!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Moses, once privileged adopted son of Pharoah’s daughter, is now humbled as a sheep herder for his father-in-law. He is also “on the run” for murder of an Egyptian.  We can’t leave that out of his story.  In his humbled state of mind, God gets the attention of Moses through a brush fire that doesn’t hurt the bush that is on fire.  What?!  God loves doing the impossible.  It’s His nature and character.

It seems when we are humbled; we are more attentive to God.  God knows that about us.  God gets our attention in ways that open our eyes to see what we’ve never seen before with ears to listen with understanding beyond our current thinking.  God comes to us where we are and leads us out of spiritual stagnation.  He provides ways for us to grow as we move forward in maturity, learning to think and behave more like He does.  Jesus taught us these ways of living a lifestyle guided by God’s Spirit that help us today.  (See Matthew 5-7—Sermon on the Mount).

Dear Friends, God always has an exit plan from where we are to where He wants us to be.  Always.  Why?  Because of his great love for us. 

Our response?  Stop and look.

Lord,

I love the story of how you brought your people out of Egypt.  Movies have tried to portray Your story but nothing compares to reading every detail for ourselves with your Holy Spirit guiding our every thought as we read.  So much more is here to meditate on while measuring our own faith and followership of You.  Thank you for this lesson of our attentiveness to you.  Help me to stop and look all day long today.  Speak to my heart, your servant is listening for you.

In Jesus Name, for Your Glory, Amen

Do we really believe what we read and know about God to be really real? 

Do we believe that God sees all, listens to all we say and pray with understanding? 

Do we really believe that God remembers his promise to “always be with us”? 

Do we believe only that God comes in times of trouble? 

Do we believe that God knows everything about us? 

Do we believe God is already at work to supply and provide even before we know we need Him? 

Are we just impressed with His Son, Jesus? 

Do we really believe Jesus came to earth to rescue us, to save us from our own selfishness, to pay for our punishment for all the wrong we have done, wiping the slate of sin clean from our lives so we could be free to love like He loves us—unconditionally? 

Do we really believe enough to want to be like Him?

Answers to these questions will measure the depth of our love and faith in God.  The measure of our faith and knowledge will be evident in our walk with God.  Being and doing.  You can’t have one without the other.

The Israelites (sons of Jacob), God’s chosen people, are struggling in Egypt and land where they no longer belong but are trapped there in slavery. They need a rescue.  God listens, remembers His promise, sees what is going on and understands.  He never stopped working on their behalf.  A Hebrew child is born from the nation of Israel.  The mother knows he is special.  God protects the child He has created and chosen to be the Rescuer for His people.  This is only the beginning of the story of God in Moses who will lead the great Exodus of God’s people from Egypt. 

As we read, may we remember who God is to all of us who say we believe in Him.  Use the questions above to evaluate the depth of our own faith in the God who was, is and is to come.  God—then and now.  God is still at work in our lives.  God rescued us by sending His own son.  Believe in the One who still sees, listens and understands and never forgets His promises.

Exodus 2, The Message

Moses

^1-3 A man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw there was something special about him and hid him. She hid him for three months. When she couldn’t hide him any longer she got a little basket-boat made of papyrus, waterproofed it with tar and pitch, and placed the child in it. Then she set it afloat in the reeds at the edge of the Nile.

^4-6 The baby’s older sister found herself a vantage point a little way off and watched to see what would happen to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the Nile to bathe; her maidens strolled on the bank. She saw the basket-boat floating in the reeds and sent her maid to get it. She opened it and saw the child—a baby crying! Her heart went out to him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrew babies.”

⁷ Then his sister was before her: “Do you want me to go and get a nursing mother from the Hebrews so she can nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said, “Yes. Go.” The girl went and called the child’s mother.

⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter told her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me. I’ll pay you.” The woman took the child and nursed him.

¹⁰ After the child was weaned, she presented him to Pharaoh’s daughter who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses (Pulled-Out), saying, “I pulled him out of the water.”

^11-12 Time passed. Moses grew up. One day he went and saw his brothers, saw all that hard labor. Then he saw an Egyptian hit a Hebrew—one of his relatives! He looked this way and then that; when he realized there was no one in sight, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

¹³ The next day he went out there again. Two Hebrew men were fighting. He spoke to the man who started it: “Why are you hitting your neighbor?”

¹⁴ The man shot back: “Who do you think you are, telling us what to do? Are you going to kill me the way you killed that Egyptian?”

Then Moses panicked: “Word’s gotten out—people know about this.”

* * *

¹⁵ Pharaoh heard about it and tried to kill Moses, but Moses got away to the land of Midian. He sat down by a well.

^16-17 The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, filling the troughs and watering their father’s sheep. When some shepherds came and chased the girls off, Moses came to their rescue and helped them water their sheep.

¹⁸ When they got home to their father, Reuel, he said, “That didn’t take long. Why are you back so soon?”

¹⁹ “An Egyptian,” they said, “rescued us from a bunch of shepherds. Why, he even drew water for us and watered the sheep.”

²⁰ He said, “So where is he? Why did you leave him behind? Invite him so he can have something to eat with us.”

^21-22 Moses agreed to settle down there with the man, who then gave his daughter Zipporah (Bird) to him for his wife. She had a son, and Moses named him Gershom (Sojourner), saying, “I’m a sojourner in a foreign country.”

* * *

²³ Many years later the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out. Their cries for relief from their hard labor ascended to God:

²⁴ God listened to their groanings.

God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵ God saw what was going on with Israel.

God understood.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Wait, what?  Moses our hero of faith murders a human?  Yes, that behavior is not left out of the story.  Moses knows he was adopted.  Moses knows he was born a Hebrew.  He visits “his people” and sees what they are going through.  His passion builds to a fit of rage.  His own people, his “family”, are being mistreated with whippings.  His passion becomes so great that he attacks and kills the Egyptian who is beating on them.  Seems justified but so not right. 

Ah, but aren’t we being a bit judgy?  We in the “family of God” sometimes get so passionate about walking right with God, doing the “work of God” that we judge all who do not do the work like we do.  We even end up beating not yet believing people over the head with our Bibles, using God’s Word as a weapon to maim the faith those people were exploring. Our “passionate” behavior sometimes sends people away, killing any chance of folks coming to Christ and growing in His message of love and peace.  Yes, I said this out loud.  I have experienced the “beating” and in my younger years I was guilty of the administering the chastisements.  Ugh.  But I grew up. 

All the while, God is at work preparing the Rescuer.  Moses will grow up and learn what God really wants Him to do.  But right now, he is running away from the situation.  The guilt will follow him.  God will meet Moses later in the desert of his foolish behavior and self-doubt and send him to do what Moses was born to do. 

God knows, sees, listens and understands.  God is always at work to fulfill His promises.  And He will use us at times in the process.  Yes, us, failures and all!  We cannot emphasize this truth enough.

We respond with pure belief in the One who rescued us!  Paul writes later, much later, based on the teachings of Jesus with how believers in Jesus behave:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Colossians 4:2-6

Lord,

Jesus, you came not only to rescue us, but to fulfill the promise of God to save us.  You came to save us from our own misconceptions of self-serving faith in God, too. Your teaching was and still is counter culture, revolutionary, and certainly unacceptable to those who use God to serve themselves bringing a new kind of oppression over your people.  Help us not to fall into those traps of self.  Save us from ourselves!  Help us to love like you love, full of grace, making the most of every opportunity to point people to You.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

We know what it is like when people overstay their welcome, right?  If you have ever invited friends or relatives into your home to spend a few days with you, you know.  After a certain time, they need to leave.  No matter how much you love them, living in cramped quarters with an uncertain leave time, will become annoying after awhile.  You both know when it is time to leave!

What is the saying? “After three days, fish and guests stink”.  People say this comes from an old Proverb—but I don’t think it comes from our Bibles—it probably came from someone’s experience.  Benjamin Franklin has been given credit for saying it, too.  But we all know it’s true.  If you have never had overnight guests, you don’t know what we’re saying here.  I’ll explain.  The idea is that fish start smelling if they’re left to sit around for a while, and that visitors, who keep prolonging a visit, can get to be really annoying, fast. An example of “Fish and visitors stink after three days” is when visitors come to stay overnight, but end up spending two weeks! 

It actually happened to Randy and I—we didn’t even know our guests that well!  It was supposed to be just an overnight visit by people in a drama troupe who came to our church, but they stayed on for a couple of weeks!  We were too good at being hosts!

But what if the hosts demand that the guests stay?  What if the “guests” are doing such a great work helping them thrive in their hometown that they require the guests to stay?

AFTER GENESIS—

Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Israel (Jacob), have grown in great numbers over succeeding generations becoming a strong nation of God’s people.  At the same time the Egyptians have grown, not in numbers so much but with great power over God’s People.  The Pharoah who was indebted to Joseph for saving his people (and God’s people) from dying in the great famine is gone.  New power, new rules with a new, oppressive government have God’s people working for them as their slaves.  No pay, only hard and harder work.  God’s people work hard, long hours, expected to accomplish more than their bodies can deliver.  These guests of this country are being abused by whips and mistreated in ways that are inhumane and cruel.  It’s time to leave says God for He has heard and seen enough.  God will provide a way out.

This is the book of Exodus in a nutshell.  God will raise up a leader of leaders to take His People to the land He promised Abraham centuries before and God always keeps His promises.  As we dive into Exodus, watch how God works, learn who He is and revel in His loving patience for His people even while hearing their complaints.  We might see ourselves in God’s story as we get a good glimpse of God at work in His people as He prepares for their exit from Egypt.

Time to leave, get your shoes on!

Exodus 1, The Message

^1-5 These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob, each bringing his family members:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Seventy persons in all generated by Jacob’s seed. Joseph was already in Egypt.

^6-7 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers—that whole generation. But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific—a population explosion in their own right—and the land was filled with them.

“A New King . . . Who Didn’t Know Joseph”

^8-10 A new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He spoke to his people with alarm, “There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We’ve got to do something: Let’s devise a plan to contain them, lest if there’s a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us.”

^11-14 So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn’t stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.

^15-16 The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. He said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it’s a boy, kill him; if it’s a girl, let her live.”

^17-18 But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn’t do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live. The king of Egypt called in the midwives. “Why didn’t you obey my orders? You’ve let those babies live!”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; they’re vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they’ve already had the baby.”

^20-21 God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number—a very strong people. And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.

²² So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: “Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live.”

WHAT WE WILL LEARN—

• Whether it means freeing a nation from political bondage or delivering an individual from dependence or codependence, liberation is a popular theme these days. But many people who want to be free don’t really know what freedom is or how to use it if they have it. Fools use freedom as a toy to play with; wise people use freedom as a tool to build with.  The nation of Israel is a case in point. God brought them out of Egypt that He might bring them into their inheritance, but they didn’t have the maturity to manage their freedom successfully.

• Sin is always costly, and Israel’s sin had not only led to the death of thousands of people, but it had robbed the nation of the presence of the Lord in the camp and on their pilgrim journey to the Promised Land.

• The theme of Exodus is deliverance, and you can’t have deliverance without a deliverer. That’s where Moses comes in: the great liberator, legislator, and mediator.

• Using the experiences of Israel, the Book of Exodus explains what true freedom is, what freedom costs, and how it must be used. Exodus teaches us that freedom is not license, and discipline is not bondage. God tells us how to enjoy mature freedom in His will, a quality that is desperately needed in our churches and our world today.

• Exodus tells us how God got His people out of Egypt, and it begins to tell us how God got Egypt out of His people.

• Transformation is God’s continual work in us. Our response will either be similar to the hardening of heart that we see in Pharaoh in Exodus, or it will be a willingness to be directed, corrected, instructed, and reconstructed by His Spirit at work in us.

• Whew, there will be many lessons that will transform our lifestyle—IF we let God do what God does best—His will in His timing for His glory with love in His heart for each one of us!

Yes, Lord, Yes…In Jesus Name, Amen!

As we mourn the loss of a loved one before, during and after the funeral, we catch ourselves evaluating our own lives along with the relationships we have in our lives.  Some regret what has transpired is the sum total of our lives and feel remorse.  Some of us lament over words said and behaviors done that fractured relationships in the past.  Some of us wonder why we only get together to enjoy each other’s company only at funerals or weddings?  But here we are, gathered to bury the person we knew in common and loved deeply.  Some of us just mourn the loss and are not thinking of anything else.  But one thing is certain, it seems, relationships are tested in our time of mourning.

After the funeral, the testing heats up.  When the stuff of a person’s whole life is divided among the relatives, relationships are tested once more.  “Who gets what” takes precedence.  Selfishness rears its ugly head and breeds contempt among the relatives left behind.  Some people even go to court over the stuff left behind.  Yes, relationships are tested to be sure.

There is a moment in mourning of Jacob (Israel) by the brothers that especially touches my heart.  I feel for Joseph in this moment.  In their loss, the brothers who sold Joseph years ago are evaluating their lives’ past sins—again.  Fear and unsettledness sweep into their thoughts, realizing they will no longer have their father to protect them.  Joseph is the newly assigned patriarch of the family.  Will their current relationship change with Joseph?  He is so powerful.  They assume that Joseph may turn on them and take revenge at last for the sins of their youth upon him. 

When they approached Joseph with their fears, what does he do?  Joseph weeps.  Why does he weep?  I think it breaks his heart that the brothers, even though he totally forgave them, are asking for pardon once more from fearful hearts.  I don’t think they have forgiven themselves.  I pretty sure the brothers are not realizing what God has done in and through Joseph for their good! The brothers still don’t get it!  What they don’t get is that GOD was in control the whole time.  It was God that made a bad situation for Joseph be a great situation for God’s people. 

Friends, we can almost hear Joseph heave a great sigh after the weeping as he explains to the brothers, one more time, who God is and what He has done for all of them—God’s chosen people.

Genesis 50, The Message

Joseph threw himself on his father, wept over him, and kissed him.

* * *

^2-3 Joseph then instructed the physicians in his employ to embalm his father. The physicians embalmed Israel. The embalming took forty days, the period required for embalming. There was public mourning by the Egyptians for seventy days.

^4-5 When the period of mourning was completed, Joseph petitioned Pharaoh’s court: “If you have reason to think kindly of me, present Pharaoh with my request: My father made me swear, saying, ‘I am ready to die. Bury me in the grave plot that I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Please give me leave to go up and bury my father. Then I’ll come back.”

⁶ Pharaoh said, “Certainly. Go and bury your father as he made you promise under oath.”

^7-9 So Joseph left to bury his father. And all the high-ranking officials from Pharaoh’s court went with him, all the dignitaries of Egypt, joining Joseph’s family—his brothers and his father’s family. Their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen accompanied them. It was a huge funeral procession.

¹⁰ Arriving at the Atad Threshing Floor just across the Jordan River, they stopped for a period of mourning, letting their grief out in loud and lengthy lament. For seven days, Joseph engaged in these funeral rites for his father.

¹¹ When the Canaanites who lived in that area saw the grief being poured out at the Atad Threshing Floor, they said, “Look how deeply the Egyptians are mourning.” That is how the site at the Jordan got the name Abel Mizraim (Egyptian Lament).

^12-13 Jacob’s sons continued to carry out his instructions to the letter. They took him on into Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.

* * *

^14-15 After burying his father, Joseph went back to Egypt. All his brothers who had come with him to bury his father returned with him. After the funeral, Joseph’s brothers talked among themselves: “What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?”

^16-17 So they sent Joseph a message, “Before his death, your father gave this command: Tell Joseph, ‘Forgive your brothers’ sin—all that wrongdoing. They did treat you very badly.’ Will you do it? Will you forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God?”

When Joseph received their message, he wept.

¹⁸ Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, “We’ll be your slaves.”

^19-21 Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.

^22-23 Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family. Joseph lived 110 years. He lived to see Ephraim’s sons into the third generation. The sons of Makir, Manasseh’s son, were also recognized as Joseph’s.

²⁴ At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, “When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here.”

²⁶ Joseph died at the age of 110 years. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This story reminds me of the time Jesus wept.  Could this “not getting it” be why Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus?  Think with me for a moment.  Remember when the women lamented, “If you would have been here this would not have happened.”?  Ouch.  Can we hear the sigh of Jesus expelled as he weeps when they don’t get it—get Him?  God is sovereign over all, in all and in control of all.  Bad things happen, life happens, whether we caused it or not, but God has never left the building (of our lives!).  God is in control.  God is still with us. God forgives our repented sins—and forgets—to be remembered no more! God has power—even over death! 

But relationships between Mary and Martha with Jesus were tested.  Let’s take a quick look at what Jesus said and did as the sisters deeply mourned over their brother’s death.

“When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them.

They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”  (John 11:33-44, NLT)

Joseph retold the brothers who still didn’t believe and “get it” that his forgiveness was complete—even in mourning, difficult circumstances, and trying times—done!  ALL done because of what God did in and through Joseph.  “Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.”

Jesus, who is part of God and is God, also knew Joseph in his moment of people not getting it.  Friends, our God is so patient with us!  God doesn’t miss anything.  He knows our hearts.  So, the same questions are asked by God through His Holy Spirit to us when we are mourning, depressed, thinking all is lost.

“Don’t you see?”

“Don’t you see how I turn life around from bad to good?”

“Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 

Jesus’ prayer says it all…“Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” –Jesus

Just believe, repent and be saved from all that holds us back.  No more questions—just believe!  Even when we don’t understand—believe.  Faith is our victory!

Lord,“UNWRAP” the fear, unrest, anger, envy, bitterness, grudges, that bind us.  Let us then go, walk out of that grave to dance, sing, tell God’s story of redemption while living life in Jesus Name, for God’s glory.  Yes