Exodus 12:1-13 – Christ our Passover Lamb

People who are wise respond to God and try to understand the purpose for the hard time they encounter. Know that in our spiritual journey, God is honing us so that we will become increasingly better. But pride can ruin everything for us. Pharaoh’s resistance is pride at its clearest demonstration. It was a contest of the will between God and his. Pharaoh would not yield to God, so one final blow was set up. It was to be the deadliest of all the plagues. Its objective was clearly shown in Exodus 12:12. God said, “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments - I am the Lord.” God would not share His glory with the false gods and goddesses of Egypt and in every plague, He revealed Himself as the only true and living God worthy of worship.    

In these first thirteen verses in Exodus 12, we see the institution of the Passover Feast by God. It tells us that like the Egyptians, the children of Israel were also under a death sentence. In all the earlier plagues, God specifically made a distinction between them and the Egyptians. In Goshen, where the children of Israel were located, none of the plagues touched them.  But for this one, they were also equally susceptible to death as the Egyptians. The same angel of death that would come upon the Egyptians could also visit any home of the Israelites, had God not made a provision for them to escape the impending devastation. The destroyer to be sent would take all the firstborn of the land, Egyptian or otherwise. This teaches us a lesson on sin and salvation. It tells us about the universality of sin. It is so pervasive, and with it comes the sentence of death. The Israelites who watched the effect of the first nine plagues could be tempted to think that they would be immune to God’s final judgment upon the Egyptians. They would be dead wrong to entertain that thought. For the truth remains that like the Egyptians, they were just as unrighteous before God, but for His grace. The harsh reality is that Jews or Gentiles, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

This episode also teaches us about the grace of God. He had provided a way of escape for His people who dare to trust Him. This episode shows us the true way to salvation. The provision of the Passover lamb was a way of escape from the angel of death. God, very specifically, gave them instruction on how to escape this angel of death. The animal for sacrifice must be perfect and unblemished. It points to Christ our perfect unblemished sacrifice. It had to do with the blood of the lamb that would be smeared on the doorpost and lintel of each house to the visitation of the destroyer. It speaks of the blood of Christ that redeems us from the curse of death. Their salvation was paid for by the blood of a lamb but ours was paid for by the blood of Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Beloved, we are not our own, we were bought with a price. God has purchased us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

There are more that could be gleaned from this Passover Feast. It would take a whole volume to write about. Suffice to say that with this historic event, the Passover Feast was instituted. It is an event to be commemorated yearly by the Israelites to remind them of all that they had gone through, and how God had delivered them with His mighty hand. We shall conclude our thoughts with verse 13. It says, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” It is all about the blood and it points forward to the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. As the children of Israel trusted in the blood of the Passover lamb, we must trust in the precious blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. It’s His blood that cleanses us and takes away our sins. It’s true that our sin may be crimson red but through Christ’s blood they shall be washed and made white as snow. As Peter has said in his letter that we “…were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).” What a glorious privilege!

Exodus 11:1-10 – Our God is glorious

Exodus 10 ended with Pharaoh angrily demanded Moses out of the palace with a warning: Verse 28 says, “Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!” He thought that like God, he had the power over death. He failed to realize that the only person that has control over life and death is the Mighty God. In verse 29, we see Moses was as quick in his response to Pharaoh’s warning. His reply to Pharaoh was “You are right; I shall never see your face again!” God’s prophet was so bold because he had been told right at the onset in Exodus 4:23 that Pharaoh had to be compelled to drive the people out. He knew that the firstborn of Egypt from the king to the ordinary peasant, even to the cattle, had to die before Pharaoh would free the people of Israel.

 

In Exodus 11, we can see that the stage for the final blow had been set. Pharaoh had hardened his heart despite all the previous nine plagues God had sent upon him and the Egyptians. Any person with a clear sense and thinking would have responded appropriately, but not this king. God already knew from the onset that he wouldn’t. That necessitated the final plague - the death of the firstborn. The Egyptians were obsessed with death and the afterlife. They were known as a people who spent much of their finances in preparing for the afterlife. Pyramids are indicators of how pre-occupied they were with what would happen after death. Two of Egypt’s gods largely venerated for these roles were Orisis and Anubis. The former was thought to be sovereign and had great power. The latter was a god who assisted in death and embalming. He had been portrayed with a human body and the head of a dog. That explains the reference to the dog in verse 7 of Exodus 11. Death according to this same verse would have no effect on the Israelites. God made a distinction between Israel and Egypt. This plague was going to prove conclusively who truly had the power over life and death. Moses, His servant, was also greatly esteemed both by the Egyptians and Israelites. As people who serve God, all we need is to be careful to take care of what’s entrusted to us. God will do the vindication and bring honor upon His servants in due time. There is no necessity to brag about what one is doing. If they are from God, the outcome will prove it. 

The truth that “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” is affirmed in what happened here. God made the Egyptian neighbors to be at peace with the Israelites that they were willing to part with their articles of gold and silver as their farewell gifts for their journey. Don’t underestimate what God can do for you through the people who may dislike you. In Exodus 11:4-11, Moses made the proclamation to Pharaoh. He painted graphically to Pharaoh the scene that was about to befall Egypt. Yahweh Himself would pass through the land and bring death upon every firstborn of the land from animals to the king. Yes, even the prince of Egypt, the heir to the throne. Pharaoh was told that a wail so shrill and intense, one that was never heard before would be heard throughout Egypt. All these would take place at midnight. The judgment of the plagues only has one message – that God deserves all the glory. In everything we go through, both positive and negative, both congenial and the not so congenial, God is working out His glory. And He truly deserves it!     

Exodus 10:21-29 – God is Light, so let’s walk in the light

God allowed Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened even as the locusts were removed. And the king did not relent. So, another plague was necessitated. In Exodus 10:21-29 the ninth plague was sent. It came in the form of darkness that covered the land for three days. This blow was significantly devastating to the Egyptians because some of the gods that they venerated were believed to be in control of the sun and light. One of them was Horus, the sky god depicted as a peregrine falcon. Then they had Amon-Re their sun god, who was revered as the king of gods. Pharaoh was considered to be the son and expression of Re, the solar deity. What about Aten, the disk of the sun in the mythology of Ancient Egypt, who was considered as an aspect of the sun god, Ra. Another god that they idolized was Atum, the god of sunset. So, when they were hit by the ninth plague of darkness, these gods whom they respected and revered had no answer to the mighty God. The gods they worshiped were an affront to the true God. It could well be that none of us worship any of those Egyptian gods but we cannot deny that idolatry is still a very present and active temptation to many. Anything that we place as a priority above our Lord and give preference before God becomes an idol. It is important that God is the one we worship and love.  

Notice how our God controls everything. Be it the sea, the earth, the wind, the vegetation or the sun, nothing is outside of God’s control. The plagues prove that God not only has the power to create but that He also has the power to destroy the forces of darkness. It is true that nothing physical was destroyed by the ninth plague, yet it would be more significant than the previous eight plagues because of its spiritual significance. It’s a physical picture of what happens when we do not have the light of God. Every person who does not have God is virtually groping in darkness. To the Egyptians, it was a failure of their sun god, who had no answer to the LORD of the universe. This truth probably was not lost on the Egyptians as they moved about like blind men devoid of light. Once again, the supremacy of God was overwhelmingly proven. He had destroyed everything Pharaoh and his people considered a deity and made a public mockery of all the gods they adored. Even at this point, Pharaoh was reluctant to let God’s people go. He wanted to retain their livestock. Perhaps he knew that without them they wouldn’t be able to survive very long. Besides they would have no animal to offer to God for their sacrifice. The clear indication in this is that all that we have belong to God. Our gifts, talents, and resources belong to God. They must be offered to Him in His service. We are not owners but stewards. We must not forget this.

   

Darkness in the Bible also speaks of rebelliousness, ignorance and even death. This is the result of the sin nature which mankind had inherited from Adam’s fall. Without God, we will have a heart full of darkness. That will cause the hardening of the heart. And a hardened heart will lead to a darkened heart that has refused the knowledge of God. Christ is the only way to have light in our life. He tells us that He is the light of the world. Only when we have Him will we not be walking in darkness. The Apostle John in his letter to the church tells us in 1 John 1:5-7 that, “…God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Let us not just acknowledge Christ our Light, but let us be a reflection of that light too!   

Exodus 10:12-20 – God will honour genuine repentance

The Egyptians honored many gods relating to agriculture. For example, they worshipped Renenūtet, the goddess of nourishment and harvest. The people would make an offering to her during harvest time. Then there was Senehem, the god of pest control and the Egyptians believed that he was the one who would protect them against the pest. Pharaoh and the Egyptians actually depended on these and many other supposed gods as far as agriculture was concerned. But alas, these deities simply did not have an answer to God’s judgment. Again, the gods and goddesses of Egypt were humiliated. So, in this eighth plague, when God sent the swarms of locusts such that the crops and plants that the previous plagues did not destroy were devastated till there was nothing left. Verse 15 said that the locusts “…covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus, nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.” That was a great devastation for Egypt’s agriculture. And their gods did not have an answer to the Mighty God.

It all started when Moses’ negotiation with Pharaoh broke down. The king drove Moses out of his palace, warning him of dire consequence should they meet again the next time. He mistakenly thought that he still had the upper hand but was soon to realize that it was merely wishful thinking. He thought he was on equal footing with God. But as soon as Moses left the palace, he realized that he had no answer to Moses’ God. God’s prophet for the moment was told to stretch out his staff. And when he did so, immediately the LORD went into action. God “…directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.” The east wind very clearly showed us that this had to be God’s doing. It debunks the notion as some argued that this was a natural phenomenon that had brought the locusts. However, we know that without God’s intervention, the wind wouldn’t be blowing so precisely at that moment and with that intensity. What happened was nothing short of God’s intervention.  

It is hard to imagine the horde of locusts that invaded Egypt. There were countless of them that came from out of nowhere till the land was covered with thick darkness.  So great was the number of locusts that we are told in verse 14 that “…the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again.” The number of locusts was so countless that they literally blotted the land from the light of the sun. It was the judgment hand of God against the gods and goddesses of agriculture which the Egyptians venerated. This plague truly left a great story for the children of Israel to tell every subsequent generation of the power and glory of their God.

Pharaoh’s action was, of course, no surprise. He quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and confessed that he had sinned against the LORD. We have already identified earlier that all Pharaoh’s confession of sin had no genuine repentance. He was merely seeking a respite from the mounting pressure of the mighty God. Even at this point, he was still not ready to turn over a new leaf. It was his same old trick of seeking a reprieve. What Pharaoh did was merely minimizing his sin. And that’s something that we believers of Christ must not do. We must genuinely confess our sin when God convicts us of it. And when we have done so be sure that we stick to the right path and walk with God honorably. To return to our sinful ways after we have confessed and been forgiven is like a dog returning to its own vomit. This is something we must seek not to do. We must know that God only works with those who actually truly turn away from their sin. And such people we must be if we truly honor Him.     

Exodus 10:1-11 – Serving God is a not an option, it’s a necessity

The seventh plague described in Exodus 9 was the fireballs of hailstorm that rained on Egypt. As soon as God removed the last hailstone, Pharaoh remained stubborn and unrelenting. So, God sent Moses and Aaron to prepare him for the upcoming eighth plague. It would come in the form of an invasion by swarms of locusts. So, In Exodus 10:3-6, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and reasoned with Him. Their conversation with Pharaoh went like this, “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. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 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. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’”

God’s instruction to Pharaoh was straightforward. He just wanted His people to be released so that they could worship and serve Him. And if the king refused to accede to God’s will, He would send a swarm of locusts to destroy the land and whatever little that remained from the plight of the earlier plagues. God pledged that the land would be covered with locusts making the surface of Egypt non-visible and every plant standing would be devoured. Pharaoh’s stubbornness was puzzling. Even God Himself marvelled at how he resisted and was still resisting. The choice he had was between humility and humiliation. Any thinking person would know which is a better choice to make but not for Pharaoh. What was he thinking? This is what pride can do to a person. We must always remember that God will oppose the proud but will give grace to the humble. He is looking for humility. This is the reason for God’s question in verse 3, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”  

God made known another reason why He sent the plagues on Pharaoh. He wanted these experiences of the Egyptians to be told to the subsequent generations of Israelites. Verse 2 reads, “…that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” God wants His name to be known from generation to generation. It behooves us to ensure that our faith in God is passed down to our children and our children’s children. Let’s make it our aim to leave a rich spiritual legacy to our posterity. 

What God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians was beginning to irritate them. The plagues had somewhat dented Pharaoh’s credibility. Some of his subjects were beginning to ask telling questions. They said to him in verse 7, “How long will this man (Moses) be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?” They even urged him to let the people go as Moses had insisted. They were practically asking the king to let the people of Israel go. Wisdom should have dictated that Pharaoh reviewed his policy when there appeared to be passive resistance from his subordinates. Pressurized, the king brought Moses back to the discussion. He suggested that only the men could go but leave behind their wives, children and their livestock. He was bending on holding them as ransom. What’s wrong with Pharaoh’s offer was a false assumption. He assumed that only man could worship God. But the truth is God wants everyone in the family, from husbands to wives to children, to worship Him. We must seek to serve God as a family. In negotiating with Moses, the king had assumed himself to be on par and equal footing with God. He failed to realize that he was on unequal footing as far as God is concerned. Here is the Sovereign Lord. He does not need to negotiate with anyone. His is the power, the glory, and the majesty, both now and forever! Worshiping and serving God is not an option. Don’t ever forget that!   

Exodus 9:22–35 – Obedience is a true measurement of a yielded heart

The purpose of the plagues God had sent was to deal with Pharaoh’s heart. And a responsible heart will take God’s Word seriously. God always means what He says and will only say what He means. He provided the solution to avoid the devastation of the hail that He was about to send. The few who had chosen to believe His word were spared from the agony of the judgment. Pharaoh and his officials and many of his people obviously didn’t. So, they had the full brunt of God’s judgment. It was the worst that the Egyptians had since the formation of the nation. The devastation was so great that it was said that everything was destroyed except for the unripened wheat.

Our heart is God’s prime concern. When our heart is set on obeying God, our life will be transformed. Whenever we are confronted by the Word of God, there can only be two responses: fear it or ignore it. We fear and obey it for our own good, and if we choose to ignore the Word of God, it will be to our own peril. Pharaoh and his people discovered this in the most regretful way. Take note that once again God made a distinction between His people and the Egyptians. In Goshen where God’s people were located, no hail fell upon them. It pays to be a part of God’s redeemed community.

We are told so great was the devastation that Pharaoh confessed that he had sinned. But of course, we know that this was a false confession. It was meant only to find relief from the pressure. For as soon as the pressure was off, he hardened his heart against God and His people again. There is a certain kind of confession that looks like repentance but it really is not. It is merely a regret with no intention to change. True repentance will always lead to serious changes in one’s life because it is a matter of the heart. It is a heart set to obey God and to please Him. Pharaoh obviously was not. For as soon as the hail stopped falling, his heart was hardened again.  

What sort of heart is God looking for? Without a doubt, He is looking for a responsive, undivided heart. God always measures our heart by the way we respond to His Word. A responsive heart always takes God at His word. It knows that God never makes a promise and not keep it. The key to a God-pleasing life is to yield to Him with a surrendered heart. A surrendered heart is always seen in obedience to all the instructions of God. Here are the Lord Jesus’ own words in John 15:7-10, ^“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”  We abide in God when we abide in His Word. Let us seek to be God’s obedient people!

Exodus 9:13–21 – Seize every God-given opportunity

We have come to the seventh plague that God was about to release on Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. God always plays it fair. Here we see Him warning Pharaoh about it. The rebellious king had always been the one who had gone back on his words. When the heat increased, he would relent. But when God honored His word, he would start to play games with Him again. In Exodus 9:13, Moses once again woke up early to meet Pharaoh and gave him the same instruction from God: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” By far, this account of the plague of hail is the longest account given.  

In the earlier plagues sent so far, God had shown how measured He was. He could have annihilated Pharaoh and all of his in one blow. He did not. The reason is obvious. He was looking for a response to His generosity. He had patiently dealt with the stubborn king. In the way, Moses, at His instruction, went back and forth with Pharaoh was truly God’s patience being displayed. With one snap of His fingers, Pharaoh would be gone forever. But God kept accommodating the king’s reluctance. He is truly a patient God. And it is true that we have all been the recipients of His grace. So, let us not keep trying and testing His patience.

In the upcoming plague, God warned Pharaoh that it would be harder than all the previous ones. The plagues seem to be increasing in intensity with each one. So far, the plague started with the water, then moved into the land and now it would be raining from the sky. All for what purpose? More than to make Pharaoh suffer or to release His people from their bondage, God was giving a signal that He desired a people who would worship, serve and bring Him glory. In these verses, God further clarifies two of His intentions for sending the plagues. Through the plagues, God was giving Pharaoh a personal lesson on Himself. Verse 14 tells us that firstly, there is no one then, and there will be no one ever, who is like Him in all the earth. He is uniquely the all-powerful God.

Verse 16 gives us the second purpose. It says “But, indeed, for this reason, I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.” In other words, this great God is the only one who should be praised and proclaimed universally. He is the only one of all the earth worthy of our praise and proclamation. Regardless of race or language, God wants and desires our worship. Later in verse 29, He clarifies His third purpose to make known that the earth belongs to Him. He owns everything universally.

Confronted with such a great God, there can only be two responses: submit, yield and obey, or resist and stubbornly ignore Him. God gave Pharaoh yet another chance in verse 18-21. He tested to see if the king would yield by telling him what measure could be taken to be protected from the upcoming plague of hailstones. He said, “Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die.”  He was giving him yet another chance to be saved. Thankfully, there were some Egyptians who heeded the warning and were shielded from God’s judgment. But those who refused obviously had their just dessert.  

There is no doubt that God is gracious and compassionate. He is reasonable and will give us ample opportunities for us to respond to His graciousness. Be sure to seize the opportunity that He gives, time and again, to help us. God is faithful, so said, Paul. With every trial, He provides the avenue of escape. Take heed and take God’s offer of relief!  

Exodus 9:8-12 – Our God is the true healer

People who are astute learn from the pain and change, but prideful and foolish people hardened their hearts with each pain. It is hard to deal with pride and foolishness, and Pharaoh was such a man. He never learned his lesson. With each plague, his heart became even harder. Five plagues had come and gone, but his pride and foolishness did not shift a bit. None of the first five signs moved him. The Nile that turned into blood, the frogs, the gnats, the flies and then came to the severe pestilence on all of Egypt’s livestock, none of these changed his heart. He is the personification of a fool as implied by Proverbs 27:22. It says “Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” Perhaps it was because none of the plagues touched his physical body so far. Physical affliction often wakes a person and helps him come to his senses fairly quickly. So, God sent the sixth plague, one that brought boils upon the body.

In Exodus 9:8-9 God told Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.” That was what they did exactly. Immediately the soot taken from the furnace and thrown into the air, turned into fine dust all over Egypt and inflicted both men and beasts with boils. Pharaoh was not excluded of course. This had to be God at work because once again we are told, in verse 11, that boils only afflicted all the Egyptians. It truly pays to be God’s people because He protects His own.  

Like all the plagues so far, the gods or goddesses they worshipped would be humiliated. This one did the same to all the gods and goddesses that deal with healing and medicine. The Egyptians worship Amon Re, a creator-god whom they believed could get rid of ailments. One of them, named Thoth, was believed to have the art to heal. What about Imhotep, whom the Egyptians believed to be the god of medicine. With this outbreak of plague of boils, these and other related gods that brought health and healing were hit. God once again proved His sovereignty and no power could stand against Him. None of the gods they worshiped could get rid of the boils. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened yet again. How foolish!

Thinking about ailment and healing, we must remember that our God is the ultimate healer. There is none like Him. Aware of it or not, with all the modern medicine and all the medical gadgets invented today, medicine can only do so much for a disease. They can uncover a person’s condition, remove any growth, but they can never heal instantly. Modern medicine only helps to make the condition more conducive for God’s healing process to take over. It is God who had put the healing mechanism in the anatomy and physiology of our body system. At best all physicians, medical science and drugs can do is to help make a sick body conducive for God’s healing to kick in. For health, strength, and vitality we must turn to put divine principles into practice. We trust the God who reigns in our life to bring health and healing when we are struck with a physical ailment. Let’s not surrender our faith in God to medical science to a point that we fail to trust God and His ability to heal any and every disease.  

Pharaoh allowed his boils to harden his heart and reject God. That’s a wrong response. It could have driven him closer to God. And this is what we must do. Every sickness signal to us that it’s time to draw near to God. We are instructed by James that we should call for the elders and the prayer of a righteous man avails much, even in time of sickness.              

  

Exodus 9:1-7 – Have an undivided heart for God

Once the Lord had removed the swarms of flies, Pharaoh immediately broke his word. He hardened his heart and denied the people from going to worship the Lord. Unwittingly, he had set the stage for the fifth plague, described in Exodus 9:1-7. The Lord responded by telling Moses to go to Pharaoh and say “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which is in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.”” God made it undeniably clear that this fifth plague would be a severe pestilence. Every beast in every farm of Egypt, be it a cow, a horse, a donkey, a camel, a sheep, or a goat would be afflicted with this pestilence. Every beast would be devastated with this strange and lethal disease until they fell dead.

Like the other plagues, this one also began with God’s command to let the people go to worship Him. The purpose God wanted them to be set free can never be overemphasized. God wanted them to be free from the clutches of Pharaoh and God also wants us to be free from the clutches of sin. Like them, we too are made to worship and serve God. We are created for God’s own pleasure. And to worship and serve Him is the goal that we must be set free to achieve.

The Lord made it clear that Pharaoh had the power to make any decision he wanted but there will be a consequence if he refused to accede to God’s command to let His people go. He made it clear that if he refuses, the consequence would be devastating. He forewarned the king that every livestock of Egypt would be affected. Interestingly in Exodus 8:19, when the Egyptian magicians couldn’t remove the gnats brought about in the third plague, they called it the finger of God. In Exodus 9:3, the plague sent on the livestock of Egypt would not be from the finger of God, but His hand. If the effect of His finger is bad, what comes from His hand would be infinitely more devastating. God was virtually tightening the noose on Pharaoh. To make sure that we know that this was truly God’s making, He gave the precise timing this plague would occur and that in Goshen, where His people were, this plague would not take place. God was making a distinction between His people and those who were not His. Belonging to God has its attending privilege. We must not spurn it.  

As in previous plagues, when God stretched out His hand against Pharaoh, He did it to triumph over the gods of Egypt. In this fifth plague, God dealt a severe blow on all the Egyptian gods and goddesses depicted in every livestock, be it bull or cow or horse, etc. God had sent a devastating pestilence on all the livestock to prove that He has power over all of Egypt’s so-called gods and goddesses.

Many lessons can be gleaned from these seven verses. But we will consider one particular one that deals with the heart. God wants a pliable and yielded heart which Pharaoh wouldn’t give to Him. Despite the fact that he knew that the hand of God was in all these, he resisted Him relentlessly. In verse 7, the king even sent to check out if it was true that the livestock of Israel would not be affected and it was proven true. It showed that God has all along been in sovereign control over every moment. Pharaoh should have understood and yielded his heart to God, but instead, he hardened it. He was unyielding and would not let God’s people and do what God desires. His heart remained untaught. It is true that the heart of education is the education of the heart. God wants us to have a heart for Him. We can never find peace of mind until we begin to love Him with all our heart. Do give Him an undivided heart!   

Exodus 8:20-32 - We must keep our words

The Bible didn’t tell us when the third plague ended but Exodus 8:20-30 describe the fourth plague sent to inflict Pharaoh. The first two plagues defeated the gods of the Nile, the third plague defeated the god of the earth and now in the fourth plague, God confronted another god. Remember in Luke 11, when Jesus was casting out demons from a mute man, the Pharisees accused Him of confronting the demons by the power of Beelzebub, meaning the “lord of the flies.” Beelzebub is actually the prince of demons. And it would not be a surprise for the Egyptians to worship it. So in this plague, God was dealing with the prince of the air. So, we see the first two plagues dealt with the gods of the water, the third plague dealt with the goddess of the earth. Now this fourth plague, God was dealing with Beelzebub, the god of the air. Flies are very small pesky creatures, yet they were the instrument God used to deal with Pharaoh. This tells us that God will use both big and small things to deal with people.    

In verses 20-21 God sent Moses to Pharaoh saying “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they dwell.’” The same reason why Pharaoh should let the people go was given i.e. that they might go and worship God.  Today He is still seeking for worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. In His dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar in John 3, Jesus said in verse 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people, the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” This is the only reason we believers are set free to do, that we may worship and serve Him.

True as God had foretold, the next day swarms of pesky flies literally invaded the whole of Egypt. Verse 24 describes what happened. A great “…swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants” and it said, “…and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.” But God did make a distinction between the Egyptians and His people, the Israelites. He said it in verse 23, “I will put a division between My people and your people.” He told Pharaoh that no fly would be found in Goshen where His people were located. This was to make clear to Pharaoh that the LORD is in the midst of His people. What an honor to be God’s people! He is truly in our midst to take us through our circumstances. We are so privileged. He had chosen us in Christ and we are His peculiar people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own acquisition.

Pharaoh wasn’t particularly fond of flies. When he saw that the flies were destroying the land, he quickly summoned Moses and agreed to let the people sacrifice to their God but within the land. But Moses argued that they must make their journey away from Egypt which Pharaoh finally relented. On the way out, Moses said he would make supplication for Pharaoh to God. In verses 30-31, Moses entreated the Lord and the flies were removed. But again, Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not keep his word. What Pharaoh did, reminds us of what we shouldn’t do. As believers, we must keep the commitment we make to God. As believers, we must not renege on the promise we make to God. Let our yes be yes to Him. God will hold us to our word. So be serious when we make our promise to Him. 

Exodus 8:16-19 – Let’s go for Christlikeness

As predicted, despite the two signs of turning the water of the River Nile into blood and the land teeming with frogs, Pharaoh still would not let God’s people go. One wonders what would it take for him to come to his senses. In the face of his tough defiance, God sent the third plague. This time the Lord said Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” Moses did as he was told. So, Aaron stretched out the staff that he was holding and struck the dust of the ground. Immediately the land of Egypt was filled with gnats. These were a small two-winged fly resembling a mosquito. Gnats have two kinds. Those that could bite and those that wouldn’t bite. But when they invade a land they would come in large swarms. It must be a frightening sight to have the whole land teeming with them. Not only were they covering the whole land, but they also infested both man and animals. There is no way to explain how these gnats came about except that God had made it happen. Verse 16 tells us that God precisely said that. He predicted that the dust will become gnats. There would be no place that wouldn’t have any dust, so it is not hard to imagine the whole of Egypt covered in pitch darkness. So far in the first two plagues, Pharaoh’s magicians could replicate them but not for this one. In desperation, they told Pharaoh that “This is the finger of God.”  

The question we will probably ask is, why this plague? Why turn dusts into gnats? The reason God did it was to deal a blow on one more god that the Egyptians worshipped. They venerated a god by the name of Geb. This was the Egyptian god of the earth, the one that supposedly supported the world. The Britannica Encyclopaedia said that “…he is being depicted as a man without distinguishing characteristics but would at times be represented with his head surmounted by a goose. He was believed to be the third divine ruler among the gods; the human pharaohs claimed to be descended from him, and the royal throne was referred to as ‘the throne of Geb.’” When God turned every square millimeter of dust into gnats, He was making a loud statement that the earth is His and everything within it belongs to Him. He owns the whole universe. He even had control over every god that the Egyptians worshipped. One can imagine the whole of Egypt being de-stabilized and thrown into chaos. In creation, God brought order out of chaos but now in the face of Pharaoh’s stubbornness, He brought chaos out of order.  

This plague also discredited Pharaoh. How so? It was believed that Pharaoh had the power to sustain order in the cosmic atmosphere. He was responsible to maintain order in the environment. He was believed to be the one controlling the climate, regulating the season and preserved order in the world. God was destabilizing their belief system with the plagues. Like it or not God is the one who is in total control. There is nowhere or no one else we should go to when we desire to set order to a chaotic life. It is He whom we must turn to when we are disillusioned by the world of confusion. God is the sole answer to man’s disillusion with life. He is exactly what the song says, ‘He has got the whole world in His hand’.

These four verses also indicate to us that the enemy of our soul has his limitation. Tried as they might, the magicians couldn’t produce a single gnat. They tried to show their power but everything came to naught. They could reproduce the signs of the blood and the frogs but here they couldn’t do a thing. Not a single gnat was produced. Their so-called power was taunted when verse 18 simply implied that they were powerless when gnats were found on both man and animals. What an indictment! All they could acknowledge was that there was a higher power that they could not overcome. So reality sets in and they exclaimed, “This is the finger of God.”

When the magicians could replicate the first two plagues, they probably thought that Moses and Aaron were magicians like them. But with this third plague, they conceded that they were experiencing the power of God that was greater than those gods whose power they were representing. It must be said that the magicians at this point knew something about God but they did not know Him personally and experientially. Let us not be found in similar situations where we only know about God but not truly knowing Him in personal experience. Let us press pass the head knowledge of knowing God to a daily personal experiential encounter with Him. It will definitely change our lives forever. Encountering and experiencing the true God is a needful experience. When we do so we become progressively more and more like Christ our Lord. Let’s go for it!       

Exodus 7:25-8:15 – Our Sovereign Lord is a prayer answering God

In Exodus 5:2, Pharaoh in defiance said to Moses, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.” In all the plagues God sent to inflict Pharaoh and the Egyptians, He was virtually answering the king’s questions. The Egyptians were a superstitious lot of people who worshipped and served many gods. Among the pantheon of gods and goddesses they honored were: Osiris, the god of the Nile; Nu, the god of life in the river; and Hapi, a fertility god, one that controlled the flood bringing fertility to the Nile. What God did in the first plague of turning the water of the Nile into blood, He had shown Pharaoh who was really in charge of the Nile. If Pharaoh genuinely wanted to know God, he would have gotten part of the answer from this first plague. But unfortunately, he wasn’t seeking to know the truth. So, Exodus 7:25 implied that for seven days all these gods were thoroughly humiliated and ultimately defeated by Jehovah God.

In Exodus 8:1-15, we see the narration of the second plague. In this second blow, God caused an unimaginable swarm of frogs to overrun the whole land of Egypt. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there never were so many frogs seen on earth. God was at it again to prove that He indeed had the upper hand. This time He had defeated Heqet or Hekt, signified by a goddess with the head of a frog. One of the duties of this goddess was to assist in childbirth so most Egyptians would turn to her for protection in childbirth. For us believers, we know that the person who truly has a major say in birth is our Jehovah God. It is He who has given us mankind the instruction to be fruitful and multiply. And it is He who can open barren wombs. We must not turn to superstition concerning childbirth. Let us trust God in every conception and birth.

The great number of frogs that had overrun the country at the behest of God showed that He was truly in control. What’s so funny about this plague was that frogs were even found in ovens and kneading bowls. According to Psalm 105:30, those frogs even went into the chambers of the king. They invaded Pharaoh’s personal and private space so much so that he just had to do something about it. He called for his magicians who could only summon more frogs but not remove them. We can be sure that Pharaoh was not impressed with them at all. For what he wanted was to have them removed and not for more to be added.   

So in a tone of exasperation, the king summoned for Moses and Aaron and requested for prayer. He said, “Entreat the Lord that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.” If there is an indication that he was beginning to know who has the power, it’s this verse. However, it’s unthinkable that he should request for prayer. He was slowly recognizing the real power behind the plagues. He could see that God was behind the plague and that only He could take it away. In this request, he was conceding that the God of Israel has the real power. Notice that he knew the only way to this God was prayer and entreaty.

This request for prayer by Pharaoh teaches us something about prayer. For prayer to be effective there must be a personal relationship with God. If it was not, Pharaoh would have just gone before God and made his supplication. But he knew he did not have the right to access because he did not have a relationship with Him. Prayer effectiveness begins when we have a genuine relationship with God. Then and then only can we have access to the heart of our heavenly Father and have our prayer answered.

Interestingly, note that Moses should give Pharaoh the honor of choosing the timing he wanted the frogs to be removed. We may not fathom why Pharaoh did not ask for the frogs be removed there and then but tomorrow. But we can guess why Moses allowed Pharaoh to choose his timing. He was taking a bold step to declare his faith and confidence in the power of God. By now he was confident that He had a prayer answering God. And he knew that regardless of what time Pharaoh wanted the miracle to happen, His God would be well able to do it.

Do we have the same confidence in prayer? More than just telling us that we have a God who is sovereign, this passage tells us that we have a prayer answering God. Confidently, we can come to Him. His invitation to us in Jeremiah 33:3 is this: ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell (show) you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ What a privilege! Don’t forfeit it!

Exodus 7:14-24 – Make knowing the true God our aim in life

The Egyptians had to suffer as a result of Pharaoh’s willful disobedience. God was not just threatening Pharaoh, He meant business.  So, in Exodus 7:20 we read, “So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.” Moses finally came around and obediently did what he was instructed. This teaches us that the sooner we obey God the sooner we will see the accomplishment of His promise. Hence, if we want to see God’s plan being fulfilled in our life, let us be quick to obey.   

Without a doubt, what happened was God’s judgment on Egypt. Blood was found everywhere in Egypt. Every fish in the water died, rot and decomposed till the whole Nile literally became putrefied. This was the first fatal judgment God had inflicted on Egypt. Many who deny God had doubted this incidence. They even tried to explain away this sign. But Psalm 78:44 and Psalm 105:29 affirm that this event actually took place in history. Knowing how dependent on the Nile the Egyptians were, it was understandable Egypt’s normal life was upset. The whole nation was paralyzed. The whole land was devoid of water almost like a desert without an oasis. The Egyptians used the Nile for transportation. With the river becoming bloody, the use of this route was hampered. They also depended on the water of the Nile to irrigate their land and with it becoming bloody, this function became impossible. Soon crops would also die. Egypt literally came to a standstill. More than just stopping the economy of the country, Egypt’s gods of the river were defeated by this one judgment from Yahweh. It was as if God was punishing their idolatry. In one stroke, the shortage of water became so acute and the whole nation became a major disaster. It is clearly shown that the gods of the Nile could not do a thing when it comes to dealing with the Lord God Almighty. This again highlights the one important goal that we all must go for in life. It is to know this true God and to worship and serve Him alone.

Pharaoh’s hardened heart would not bend to God despite the clear show of His hand. He got his magicians to replicate the same thing. We are not told where they got the water to turn into blood. But they did. One wonders how could they be so silly to replicate the same thing that God through Moses and Aaron just did. Doesn’t it make more sense for them, if they had the capacity to turn the blood back into drinkable water? But obviously, they could not. This then shows us what a blinded and stubborn heart would cause one to act foolishly. With the magicians replicating the sign, Pharaoh’s heart became even more hardened. This was permitted by God whose hand was working to cause the king to finally let His people go.  

This episode shows us that worshiping other gods has its attending consequences. In the same way ultimately, God will judge all who worship other gods. It behooves us, therefore, to turn to the one true God and worship Him alone. Jeremiah 9:24 is a great verse to remember. And in it, the Lord is declaring His desire for each of us: “…let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things.”

Exodus 7:14-19 – We exist to glorify God

Turing all the waters of Egypt into blood, especially that of River Nile, was the first sign God inflicted on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. More accurately, all the signs inflicted on the Egyptians were actually plagued. Because this word “plague” describes better the reason each one was sent. The word plague is derived from a Latin word that means a blow or wound. Every plague is a blow on the Egyptians. But we need to know that the real reason why the ten plagues were sent was not so much to torment the Egyptians but to demonstrate the superiority of the LORD God. Egypt’s eight major deities were grouped around three major natural forces – the River Nile, the land and the sky. Hence the first two plagues were intended to deal a blow on the Egyptian gods represented by the Nile. The next four plagues were against the gods of the land and the last four were against the gods of the sky. The final one of the plagues was the death of all the firstborn.

The first plague of turning the water of the River Nile into blood literally paralyzed the whole of Egypt. This river was the lifeline of everything in Egypt. It was not only their major transportation route but also their major source of food supply. The River Nile was also a key object of their worship. So, turning the water of the Nile into blood was an ingenious way of showing the power God had over the gods of Egypt. So, in Exodus 7:14-18, God said to Moses that “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.” And ordered him saying, “Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” Thus says the Lord, “By this, you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.”’” God wasn’t negotiating a deal, He was making a demand. Why not? He is the sovereign LORD. Remember the earth is His and everything therein belongs to Him.  

Take note of verse 16, the one true reason for the redemption has always been for God’s own glory. He wanted a people that would worship Him and Him alone. Like the Israelites, we are all made to worship and serve God. The reason we exist is not to serve the world or for personal embellishment. Simply put, we exist to worship and serve God. It was two times already that Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God. He had considered himself as god and hence, it was hard for him to submit to the true God. Isn’t this true of us too? Know this also that like Pharaoh, whenever we are bent to do our will, we set ourselves up as our own god and doubtlessly will need to pay dearly for it ultimately. Let us worship the Lord our God and Him only shall we serve! 

Exodus 7:8-13 – God desires a pliable heart

In Exodus 1-6, we see how God set up the whole situation for this great conflict between Moses and Pharaoh. But peering silently and surely behind the scene, God’s unseen hand was working, gearing and setting up for the great moment when His people would be set free. Their oppression by the Egyptians, the raising up, the preservation of Moses, the calling, commissioning and sending of Moses to deliver them, were all part of God’s redemption plan. The conflict we see in the book of Exodus is more than just a clash between Moses and Pharaoh. It was not just a battle between the Israelites and the Egyptians. In reality, this battle represents a cosmic war between God and Satan, a war between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell. This whole battle is a representation of what God is doing to free mankind from the oppression of Satan and the host of forces of darkness. Like the Israelites, mankind had been captured and oppressed since the fall of Adam. We are all in bondage to sin, guilt, and condemnation. We all need to be delivered from it all. Just as God sent Moses to set the Israelites free, God has sent Jesus His Son to bring us the deliverance.

The conflict between Moses and Pharaoh we are about to discuss is a representation of the supernatural war between God and Satan. In the ten plagues: the blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, leading up to the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, were not just natural disasters. They represented the cosmic war God had declared on Satan. The supernatural works of our God, who governs from the unseen realm, are manifested in how He sovereignly uses natural calamities to effect victory in the lives of His people. This whole experience of the children of Israel in the book of Exodus concurs with what the Apostle had said in Ephesians 6:12. “Our conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

These six verses are a precursor of the larger conquering power of God at work. The snake formed from Moses’ staff that swallowed up all the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians is but a summary of all that would ultimately happen, when Pharaoh’s whole army would be swallowed up in the Red Sea. In verses 8-9, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” Remember Moses was told that He would be as “God” to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. What had happened was in keeping with God’s plan.  Up to this point, we saw how Moses would keep going back and forth concerning whether he was the right person to be sent. Here he had reached a point of surrender. Hence, from this point on, we shall see him yieldingly submitting to God and obediently did as he was instructed. Like him, our goal in our spiritual journey must come to the point where we will submit to God immediately without hesitation. As soon as Moses started obeying, he found everything God had said just fell into place as He had foretold. God never leaves us stranded. He will provide all the gifts and resources that we need to carry out His commission.

Despite seeing his magicians’ snakes being eaten up, Pharaoh stubbornly refused to cooperate with God. This indicates to us that resisting God is really a condition of the heart and will. When one’s heart is hardened, the will becomes stubborn. This was what happened to Pharaoh. He should have bowed to God and turned to acknowledge His greatness and worship Him. But Pharaoh didn’t. He resisted further with a hardened heart. All these happened as God had predicted, so it came as no surprise. Pharaoh’s hardness of heart sends us a warning. The signs he witnessed did not convert him, not because they weren’t convincing, but because his pride would not allow him to acknowledge God. Often, it's not the signs that we need, it’s our heart that must be pliable before God. As lovers of God, we must always come before Him with a contrite heart. This is what He will not despise. Remember, He gives grace to the humble. So, come humbly before the Almighty. 

Exodus 7:1-7 – God works best through yielded vessels

God could have blasted Moses for being so loquacious and windy. He could have said to him, “Once is enough, Moses. Why are you coming at it over and over again? Moses, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you trust me?” But God did not. He patiently dealt with Moses and taught him how to go about it. He was literally teaching him how to serve. What a patient and gracious God! In so doing, He was virtually answering Moses’ question when He told him, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

Effectively, God was telling Moses, “You have my authority, just use it.” The exact words were, “See I have made you as God to Pharaoh.” These words are significant because in their culture, Pharaoh was considered a god incarnate and would have thought of himself divine. Imagine what all these would mean. Moses was now placed over the Pharaoh who considered himself to be a god. God was literally engaging Pharaoh in his own game. He was in effect showing that Pharaoh wasn’t a god. Because Moses, the shepherd who returned from Midian would be God to him. And this Moses truly had the power of God. He could literally control nature, creatures and even life and death because the one true God would be acting through him.  

Moses, of course, was merely God’s instrument. He was just a prophet of God, an ordinary man but would have extraordinary capacity because God would be backing him to the hilt. He would be representing God to the king. Isn’t it so gracious of God? Today, this is the way He will also work through us, His people. We are His representatives when we trust Him and do as He has instructed us. We too can become extra-ordinary vessels to demonstrate His glory. We should always bear in mind that we are created in God’s image and likeness. And the more Christlike we become, the greater will be our capacity to represent Him to the world.

God sent Aaron to act as his brother’s prophet so that Pharaoh would have no choice but to see and recognize Moses’ authority. He would be the one speaking on Moses’ behalf. The things he would say would be as if they were the words of Moses. God knew that Pharaoh would understand what all these would mean. Like Moses, we all should have nothing to fear as we act on God’s behalf. Our words do have authority when they are inspired by Him and spoken on His behalf. What we see in these seven verses should give us the confidence to serve God boldly. Accept it or not, God has the ultimate control over everything, even the human heart. What God does always point to the fact that He is the Sovereign LORD and nothing is outside of His control. And He still wants to work through us to claim lives for Himself, no matter how hardened hearts may be. Notice the ages of Moses and Aaron? What they indicated to us is that age should not be a barrier to serving God. These two brothers were both in their eighties. So, if anyone of us think we are too old to serve, just consider them. What these seven verses tell us is this: we must not allow fear, personal inadequacy and much less our age to stop us from serving God. We must give Him our youth, our adulthood and even our senior years. We can be God’s willing vessels today. He wants to use us! 

Exodus 6:28–30 – Let’s give God our wholehearted obedience

In Exodus 6:13-26, we see a departure from the conversation that God was having with Moses. He virtually took the time to authenticate the family of Levi all the way to Phinehas before He resumed His conversation with Moses again. The issue He had to deal with was again with Moses' complaint concerning his speech inability. This is now the third time Moses had raised this objection already. The first was at Mount Horeb recorded in Exodus 4:10. He told God saying “O Lord, I have never been eloquent.… I am slow of speech and tongue.” God then assured him that it was He who had made his speech apparatus and promised to teach him what and how he had to say it.

Then in Exodus 6:12, Moses, brought it up again. He said to God, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?” And now again, in Exodus 6:28, he said, “Behold, I am unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?” God actually need not deal with his same old complaint so many times. He had already promised to be with Him. He had assured him that it would not be about his ability but the LORD’s sovereignty. Besides, God would send Aaron his older brother, one rhetorically gifted, to be with him. He would be Moses’ mouthpiece and would be his go-between with Pharaoh.

We must also bear in mind that God was not asking for a volunteer. He was commanding Moses to go. His exact words were, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”  God’s authority is inherent in His sovereignty and He has every right to order Moses or anyone of us to go at any time. We need to have this perspective when God tells us to go or tells us what to do. They are not His propositions to be debated but orders to be obeyed. We mustn’t give God the whys and wherefores. The question is not about our ability but His. We can rest assured that God’s authority will always accompany us in any assigned task.  

But what Moses did is so typical of what many of us would do when we are afraid to answer the challenge of God’s call. Like Moses, how many times have we tediously dragged up some same old excuses in our reluctance to share the Gospel, or give to the work of God or to serve in a ministry in the church?  Yet the truth about God’s call is this: when He assigns us to a task, He Himself accompanies and empowers us to accomplish it. His gifts always accompany His calling. So, we see how amazingly accommodative God had been with Moses and also with us so many times. Let us not try the patience of God. We must see God’s calling as an invitation to do and not a proposition to be debated. Let us obey God with the attitude of the patriotic British soldier who died in 1854 in the Crimea war. The Light Brigade’s “never-fear-death” attitude was commended by Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem, the Charge of the Light Brigade. The second stanza reads:   

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew 

Someone had blundered. 

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of death

Rode the six hundred.

   

Let us emulate such brave attitude when it comes to obeying God. He deserves such a commitment from us.