A Fifth Warning (Ex. 9:13-21)

4/6/2008 8:03 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  A Fifth Warning

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 9:13-21

            Message of the verses:  “13 ¶  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  14  "For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.  15  "For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth.  16  "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.  17  "Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go.

18  "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.  19  "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."’"  20  The one among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses; 21  but he who paid no regard to the word of the LORD left his servants and his livestock in the field.”

            I believe that verses fifteen and sixteen and also seventeen are keys into understanding how God was working with Pharaoh.  Pharaoh was a dictator who had little conscience in the way that he was dealing with the children of Israel and God began to work in the life of Pharaoh in order to cause him to let the children of Israel go.  Verse fifteen is showing the mercy of the Lord, for if the Lord had chose to He could have completely destroyed the nation of Egypt, “but God in His mercy doesn’t give sinners all that they deserve,” however Pharaoh was not grateful for this.

            God’s sovereign grace is seen in verse sixteen, a lesson that a number of dictators in Scripture did not see.  It was in the sovereign will of God that he was in power in the first place, however he did not recognize this fact.  “If Pharaoh exalted himself against God, then God exalted Himself through Pharaoh (Ex. 9:17).

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The lessons in this section are great lessons for me to learn.  I am to be humble before the Lord and realize that if it was not for His wonderful grace that I too would be lost and on my way to hell.  I want also to learn that the things that I do should bring honor and glory to the Lord, for if the things that I do are not in the will of God, then God can over rule in my life to cause me to do things that will bring honor and glory to Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be yoked with Jesus.

Memory verses for the week:                      Philippians 3:7-8

7.  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

8  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.