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The Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt.’ Then Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am the Lord.’ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field.They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.” ’ Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.(Exodus 9:22-10:6)
Happy Friday, dear Friend! I pray this finds you well and active in the service of our Lord! This weekend is Saint Patrick's Day and it falls on a Sunday! Depending on the toughness of the church you may attend, you might wear something green! I remember Elementary school days were murder on my arms on those days I did not wear green! "I'm not Irish!" did not work! And later on, a DNA test shows, well - what do you know grrrranddad? In other words, please make plans to attend the church of your choice and worship the Lord! God doesn't care what you wear.
The education of Pharaoh and the patience of Moses wears on. After numerous plagues, Pharaoh is just not getting the message. The days of his magicians matching what God was doing are long over, and these plagues are just disaster after disaster showing who really has the power in this God versus god contest. The one thing Pharaoh was learning was that he was not God. And he's nearing that point where he will realize that and give in to the demands of Moses. Today's two plagues were hail and locusts. The first is common in most parts of the world, but we Texans like to kid that if one does not like Texas weather, we should wait five minutes. And it's true. Yesterday was a wonderfully warm day, I was able to spend the day in shorts and short sleeves; today I'm wearing a hoodie as I write. To make the hail extra special, God threw in flashes of fire, the Bible says, "such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation." The damage done by this was extensive; trees and plants destroyed. But it made great business for chariot repair people. These quickly went to the WalMart parking lot and set up Hail Damage Repair shops. Chariot dealers had special Hail Damage sales. But it was not enough to make soft Pharaoh's heart. Even his advisors were clamoring for him to let them go, for they saw the devastation that had come from the hand of God; but to no avail.
The eighth plague was locusts; another pesky part of our regions here in this state. Not quite weather, but there have been occasions when it was been like it was raining locusts. This was the crowning touch to the damage done by the hail, but the locusts ate what was left of the trees and plants. It is interesting to note that in verse 16 of chapter 9, Pharaoh says, "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, I pray you, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God only to remove this death from me." It was a short time of contrition, but again, not enough to convince Pharaoh to let his slaves go.
At the heart of this showdown is pride. Pride was the force behind Pharaoh not giving in. In his hands were the lives of these foreign people whose history he conveniently forgot. The day came they feared the great number of Hebrews in their midst and so the decision was made to enslave them, and through free labor great monuments and buildings were built; all honoring Pharaoh. To let them go would be a blow to his pride and to the control he had not only over the slaves, but his own people. At the heart of our own showdowns with God we may often, if not always, find pride. We sometimes think our convictions are better than God's. We may even try to replace God with our own god, and yes, sometimes that little-g god is us. But let us remember this, we can't outwit or out-wait God; and what comes before a great fall? Yes, pride. Friend, if you are facing a showdown with God, realize it may yourself you're up against. I suggest you take a moment, pray, listen, reflect, pray some more, and then let God speak to you and the decision you have to make. You may find you knew all along what was best, but didn't want to admit it.
PRAYER: Loving God, speak to my heart. Let me listen with joy and love to what You may say to me today. As I face decisions and challenges, let me turn always to You to see what is best for me. This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a plague of love to someone who needs it!
Eradio Valverde
