A Work in Progress….

Exodus 8:25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

Today’s scripture has me thinking about compromise and moral compasses. A Christian disobeying Biblical tenets feels to me like a teenager disobeying parental rules. The basic equation is: Is getting what I want worth the consequences I might have to suffer if I am caught disobeying?

Exodus 8:26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 

But there is a fly in the proverbial ointment. With parents, they are present to clearly define those rules and expectations. Now, you might say that the Bible works the same way–clearly defined rules and expectations, but look at how different people and different denominations use the SAME verses to argue DIFFERENT sides of an argument. HUMANS can twist (and do twist and have twisted) God’s word over and over again.

Exodus 8:27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”

Precious Savior, I worry that putting Your word into anyone else’s hands can lead me away from Your heart. Help me to read and study Your word and to apply the moral compass You gave me so that I can always draw closer to You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 8:28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

Swarms of flies would be bad enough. I’ve dealt with an alarming number of flies in my kitchen, and their buzzing, swarming presence was plenty irritating. But commentary says the word for flies could also be interpreted as fleas, sandflies, or mosquitoes, so the thought of a swarming horde that bites is even more terrifying in my mind.

Exodus 8:22 “ ‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 

And this is the first time God has made a distinction between His people and Pharaoh’s people. I assumed the entire land experienced the first several plagues, but the swarms of flies will be just on the Egyptians. That definitely makes a statement.

Exodus 8:23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”

Precious Savior, Thank You that every time I come to Your word I see things I missed before. Thank You that I can still read and question, wonder and seek. Thank You that when I spend time in Your word, I always draw closer to You. Amen.

Exodus 8:24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:17 They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. 

While most translations call the winged creatures gnats, King James translations call them lice. Regardless, they give me the “heebee jeebees”!! I think every parent of small children has dealt with lice at some point, and everyone with a kitchen faces the yearly gnat affliction. To me, these tiny flying creatures are so much worse than frogs.

Exodus 8:18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 

I find it interesting that this plague is also the first that Pharaoh’s magicians can’t imitate. Not only that, the magicians admit that the plague of gnats/lice “is the finger of God” but to no avail. “Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen.”

Exodus 8:19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

Precious Savior, Thank You that You give me warning signs when I am headed down the wrong road–feelings, friends, stumbling blocks. Help me not to ignore Your warnings when I get off track. Help me to turn myself around and head straight back to You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 8:20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:13 And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. 

I want so badly to judge Pharaoh here because, when he “saw that there was relief [from the plague of frogs], he hardened his heart.” But the truth is, I have been in a position to beg and plead for relief, to promise what I would do or not do if God would just grant me that relief, only to move on to the next thing once that pain is lifted.

Exodus 8:14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. 

And one thing I have learned in my Christian walk is that God doesn’t always bring that relief. That’s not what He promised. The lyrics “sometimes He calms the storm and sometimes He calms His child” are so true. Even when the storm rages, God is with us, surrounding us, protecting us, encouraging us, carrying us. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Never. And He keeps His promises.

Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Precious Savior, Forgive me when I plead for relief only to forget the entire matter once relief has been granted. Thank You that You promise to be with me always–on the mountain tops and in the valleys, through the sunshine and the storms. Help me to draw closer to You, to trust You. Always. Amen.

Exodus 8:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

Verse 12, when Moses “cried out to the Lord” about the frogs, brought to mind religious instruction from my youth. Honestly, I’m not sure how much of what I “learned” was overtly taught and how much I intuited based on what I saw and heard, but I was left with the impression that crying out to God, being honest with God about strong emotions, especially negative emotions like anger, was not what a “good girl” did.

Exodus 8:10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God. 

I was supposed to come to him as a nice, meek, happy girl only. As an adult, I see how ridiculous that is. God created me. He knows me. He loves me fiercely. He wants all of me, my whole heart. Always. He wants me to cry out to Him in my pain, sorrow, and frustration.

Exodus 8:11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

Precious Savior, Thank You that I have learned that You love me, all of me, exactly as I am; that I can come to You in joy, sorrow, anger, pain, any emotion; that I can be honest with You, always, and that You won’t always fix things or explain things, but You will always be with me and comfort me. Always. Thank You. Amen.

Exodus 8:12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’ ”

As I was typing today’s verses, I thought about the childhood “game” of mimicry, where one child mimics every single thing the other does. I think the intention is to drive the other bananas, and it typically works. At least that was my experience as a child.

Exodus 8:6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 

The magicians seem to be playing a game of mimicry with Moses and Aaron. Everything Aaron does, the magicians do. I assume Pharaoh’s intention is to say, “See, my magicians can do what your God can do,” but the magicians only keep adding to the problems. They don’t neutralize or reverse them. Interesting….

Exodus 8:7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

Precious Savior, I have no idea why certain thoughts float through my mind as I am studying Your word, but I have learned that sometimes You use those random thoughts to get me to think differently about verses I have never pondered deeply before. Help me, always, to draw closer to You. Amen.

Exodus 8:8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 8:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 

At first blush, “a plague of frogs” sounds a bit humorous to me. However, it doesn’t take long for the horror of a teeming mass of frogs to become clear. Add to that the fact that the Egyptians considered frogs, which were linked to one of their goddesses, to be sacred and were not to kill them. Now this teeming mass of frogs takes a much darker turn.

Exodus 8:2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. 

These verses make me wonder about the things in my own life that I have, inadvertently or not, elevated to sacred status, that I have lifted to a place of honor and importance in my own life. Do I even realize that I have elevated them? Do I understand the importance I have given them? Have I placed them above my Savior?

Exodus 8:3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 

Precious Savior, I’ll be honest. I don’t really want to look too closely at this one because I know that my answers will require me to make some changes. Forgive me…for elevating anything above You and for being hesitant to examine them because I know I will have to make some changes. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 8:4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’ ”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 7:19a The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ 

What strikes me as I read commentary on these verses is the writer’s insistence that these are literal, not symbolic acts, which may or may not have an explanation in the natural world but whose timing was absolutely explained by God alone. We therefore, the writer of this commentary posits, have no need to think of the events of Revelation as symbolic either but rather literal.

Exodus 7:19b Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

It feels to me like the writer wants to remove my ability to think and ponder what’s happening in these verses, to marvel at God’s actions or His use of the natural world. This commentary writer wants to ensure I see things in only the way that he, the writer, interprets them. Why? What can he gain from that? How does God feel about the writer implying by his words that God’s actions are not strong enough to stand on their own?

Exodus 7:20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 

God of the Curious, Thank You that You love when I ponder and question Your word. Thank You for cultivating my curiosity, a curiosity that You planted within me, that You can and will and do use for my good and Your glory. Help me never to fall into the trap of certainty. Help me to draw closer to You with every question of Your word. Amen.

Exodus 7:21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

Have a blessed day.