Morning Musing: Exodus 8:20-23

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“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. But if you will not let my people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where my people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the Lord, am in the land, I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I hate flies. Are you with me in that? A few months ago, the doors of the building where my office is located were left open for an extended period of time and flies got in. Lots of flies. And they all seemed to wind up in my office. I systematically hunted them down and killed them one by one. I had to. I wasn’t going to be able to get any work done until I did. The next plague God sent against the Egyptians was the plague of flies. With this fourth plague, what has become the standard script changes just a bit. Let’s talk about what’s different here and how God demonstration of HIs power to Pharaoh is developing.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 8:16-19

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’ And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the land, gnats were on people and animals. All the dust of the land became gnats throughout the land of Egypt. The magicians tried to produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not. The gnats remained on people and animals. ‘This is the finger of God,’ the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The town where I live has gnats. I know what you might be thinking: everywhere has gnats. That’s just life in a broken world. But you don’t understand. We have lots of gnats. And everyone who lives in the other little towns around us knows it. One of the things we are known for is how bad our gnats are. And trust me: they’re really bad. There are some days when you can hardly go outside without being completely engulfed by them. So, when I read about this third plague of gnats, I can’t help but think about how irritating trying to go to our local park is in the summer and how bad this must have been for the Egyptians. Let’s talk through some of the details here and the theme that is emerging as we go.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 8:5-7, 15

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“The Lord then said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’ When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt. . . .But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love getting into early summer when it’s warm enough to sit outside in the evenings and you start hearing the frogs for the first time. Their cacophonous chorus is a welcome note of the changing of the seasons. Their music is a gift from God and speaks to the wonderful variety of creatures He has created to fill the earth to His glory. But frogs belong in the ponds and puddles around my neighborhood. If they started to encroach on my living space and in greater numbers than the one or two you occasionally find hopping around the yard, they would not be quite so endearing. In fact, I suspect I would come to hate frogs with the same passion I bring to my hatred of gnats. Today we talk about the second plague God sent on Egypt: frogs. Let’s explore what was going on and its outcome.

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Morning Musing: Psalms 103:8-10

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“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One last reflection from camp today, and this one will be short because we are hitting the road early. We have talked this week about having a pure heart that reflects God’s holiness, a humble heart that willingly acknowledges who God is, a trusting heart that is willing to seek God’s kingdom ahead of our own, and today we are talking about a willing heart that is ready to live in obedience to God’s command. This morning, though, I want to reflect for a few moments on yesterday’s topic: a merciful heart. Let’s go beyond the surface.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 6:31-32

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“So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Do you really know who God is? How well do you know Him? Do you know what His character is? Those are all questions you may answer instinctively if you’ve been around the church long enough to be programmed to answer them in a certain way, or they may prompt a bit more reflectiveness in you. I’d like you to really give it some thought today. Yesterday at camp we talked about having a trusting heart. This is a heart that has a grasp of God’s character that goes beyond the surface. There are several places in the Scriptures that call us to have this kind of a heart. Here’s one we talked about yesterday.

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