Morning Musing: Exodus 7:14-17

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake. Tell him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But so far you have not listened. This is what the Lord says: Here is how you will know that I am the Lord. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

At last we come to the place the action really gets going. Moses and Aaron finally go to confront Pharaoh directly about his refusal to let the people of Israel go. This begins a series of actions God uses to convince him to do it. Exactly how these played out is something that has puzzled scholars and interpreters for centuries, but especially in the modern world. We’ll take some time working through each of these, starting here where all the waters in Egypt…except for some of them…were turned to blood. How did this work? Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 7:8-13

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“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers — the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices. Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do you convince someone that God is real? How do you convince them that He is worth their lives and obedience? That’s a tough question to answer and one that depends on both the person and the circumstances. Sometimes, though, the only way to get through to someone is by putting on a bit of a show. How big a show again depends, but sometimes God puts on a pretty big one. When God sent Moses to confront Pharaoh, He knew it was going to take a really big show in order to convince him. Let’s look here at how that show begins and why God was always the ringmaster.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 7:6-7

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“So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things I learned when I was growing up is that when there’s work to be done, you keep at it until the job is finished. It drives me crazy when someone starts but doesn’t finish a project. Now, yes, this can be taken too far, and we need to have the wisdom to recognize when we need to pause for a break, but in most cases it is pretty sound advice. As much as this idea applies to individual tasks we take on, though, it also applies to our lives as a whole. Let’s talk about Moses and Aaron’s lives and this interesting little note we get as they get started on the biggest task of their lives.

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Playing a Part

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Last week on our journey through the story of the church, we saw what some of the fruits of our Gospel boldness can be. They weren’t particularly sweet. Persecution never is in the moment. Yet the church kept at it. They did their part while relying on God to do His. When both parts were working like they should, something pretty incredible happened. Let’s take a look at what this was in the next part of our story. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Playing a Part

In 1996 a young man named Bob was drafted out of the University of Tennessee by the Texas Rangers as the 18th pick in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. Like any person in his position he entered the Majors with boatloads of optimism. He was offered a nice signing bonus and seemed set to make a quick trip through the farm system to his eventual big league debut. He was even invited to join the U. S. Olympic team competing in Atlanta that summer. Early on in the process, however, a doctor for the team noticed in a team photo that his arm was sticking out funny. This led to some testing and it was discovered that he was missing a piece of ligament in his throwing arm. Doctors were amazed that he was even able to turn a doorknob without excruciating pain. The reaction was swift. His signing bonus was cut to 10% of the original offer and for most of the next 10 years he languished in the minors. 

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The Fruit of Boldness

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For the last three weeks we have been talking about the initial explosion of the early church and the boldness with which they pursued the advance of Jesus’ mission. We’ve talked about just how seriously they were taking the church in those early days. Along the way, though, a question has started to bubble up without much of an answer just yet: what happened to them? So they did all this bold Gospel work. What happened? How did things go for them? In this next part of our series, The Story of Us, we’re going to get an answer to that question. It may not be what you expect. Read on to find out how things went.

P.S. My family is taking some downtime this next week, so this will be the only post for this week. Enjoy, and see you in a week.

The Fruit of Boldness

A few years ago, I picked up a copy of David McCullough’s book, 1776. It’s a gripping story of the events of that incredibly consequential year in the history of our nation. The story, however, is not what you might expect going into it. When we think about the year 1776, our thoughts are mostly shaped by the momentous event that happened on July 4th and which we are in the midst of celebrating, with the main events coming on Tuesday. That, of course, was the day we officially declared independence from the British crown, establishing ourselves as a sovereign nation. 

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