Category: Exodus

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 6 before reading the devotional below. 

Recall from yesterday’s post that Moses was angry and accusing God of some pretty tough stuff. Today we hear God’s response: “Just wait until you see what I have coming…” God tells Moses to encourage the Israelites, reassuring them that God is in the midst of acting. But when you are currently being brutally oppressed in slavery, you may not respond enthusiastically to promises of things improving “someday.” Interestingly, Moses blames himself and his complete lack of speaking skills for the dismissal by the Israelites. He is still sure that God picked the wrong guy.

God does not get frustrated with Moses despite the ongoing complaints and angry prayers. He simply keeps giving out instructions one bit at a time. Moses is still looking for evidence that any of this is going to work, and given the fact that no one from either side is listening at all, he is pretty sure it isn’t. By the end of the chapter, he is still begging God to swap in an alternate.

Here’s your freedom for today: God sees you in the bigger picture. Did you notice that half of this chapter is taken up by a genealogy? Why are a bunch of names stuck in the middle of the story? God is reminding Moses of who he is: part of the tribe of people set apart to be intermediaries between God and his people. The Levites were the priests, and Moses and Aaron are on the list. God did not see Moses as a murderer or as a guy who couldn’t speak well. He saw him as part of a bigger story. Moses was born into a plan that was set in motion long before he arrived on the scene. Your life is so much bigger than you or what you can see around you. God knows exactly why you arrived on earth at this moment and place in time. His thoughts and ways and reasons are so much higher than we can imagine.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 7 before reading the devotional below.

Okay, can we just acknowledge (in case we weren’t tracking with the timeline) that Moses is an 80-year-old man at this point? Kind of a lot on his plate at the moment. In today’s chapter, God reveals more of the details of his plan, including the reason he is allowing his plan to seem like a failure at the outset. God wants to display his full power, which will only be possible after a good fight. Sure, he could take Pharaoh out easily on the first round, but his power will be on greater display if he battles it out for a bit.

We begin the description of the plagues, famous in children’s Bibles and kind of gross when you really think about it. But this is not merely a battle for God’s people to be set free. No, this battle is one over the very lordship and authority of God. Pharaoh had some spiritual power at his disposal too, with his sorcerers and magic. He was given a god-like status by virtue of his position. The plagues that follow connect with the supposed powers of the Egyptian gods, demonstrating to everyone that Israel’s god will out perform Egyptian gods any day of the week.

Here’s your freedom for today: when God fights the battle, he wins. Honestly, I don’t understand why I keep trying to fight my own battles. It’s really quite useless. I have the option to release every aspect of my life and let God run it. This freedom is the good news he offers. None of us are particularly fantastic at running our own lives, and God has offered to use his power on our behalf. He’s in your corner today. What battle can you step away from and let God fight for you?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 8 before reading the devotional below. 

Frogs are cute one at a time. Jumping all over you and all over your kitchen is a pretty different ballgame. We see the spiritual battle play out as the magicians spar with God’s miracles and are able to display their own dark spiritual power. Turns out they can make frogs appear too, but when God takes over Egypt with gnats, even the magicians acknowledge they do not know this kind of power.

Isn’t it interesting how people beg and plead with God in the midst of a crisis and then change their minds as soon as the problems disappear? Pharaoh says yes to God just long enough to get rid of the frogs, gnats, and flies. His heart is not repentant — he is continually looking out for himself. He is willing to say whatever he needs to say to Moses and Aaron to get the plagues to stop, but it is not enough to cause him to fear God. That power is still on the way.

Here’s your freedom for today: God will not give up on your freedom. His plans are multi-layered and multi-faceted. He will prove himself over and over to you until the oppression stops. His people will be set free, that much is sure. Or perhaps you see yourself in Pharaoh today. Maybe you have been crying out to God to make your life less plagued with problems but then you forget him when things simmer down. Turn to God today, no matter where you are at or what you need freedom from. He will prove himself to you again and again.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 9 before reading the devotional below.

The plagues we have read about up to this point were things that were ultimately taken away. Frogs come, frogs go. In today’s chapter God raises the stakes and essentially destroys the entire economy. The Egyptians are watching their wealth vanish as their livestock and crops are killed. Amazingly, with all that they had seen up to this point, some did not listen to the warnings from God to bring in any remaining livestock before the hail storms came. Don’t say he didn’t warn you.

Remember that Egyptian gods had supposed power over things like the fertility of livestock and the fruitfulness of crops and the severity of the weather. God is demonstrating his power over any other gods by doing things that none of their gods had ever done. The magicians couldn’t even try out their powers anymore — they too were covered in painful boils all over their bodies.

Here’s your freedom for today: God always gives you a chance to change. Even in the midst of God bringing plagues to a land that had no regard for him, he warned them about what was coming. He gave them a chance to repent, and even gave them a chance to listen to him in order to save some of their remaining belongings. God wants you to turn to him. His actions are always meant as a way to bring you back to repentance. God does not delight when we learn things the hard way. Is there a warning he has given you? What can you turn from today before it is too late?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 10 before reading the devotional below.

God’s still wearing Pharaoh down, and in today’s chapter he tells Moses another motivation for carrying out his plans this way: a really good story for the grandchildren. This victory will be one that will not soon be forgotten (and in fact, here we are talking about it today!). Again, God offers a warning and gives Pharaoh a chance to opt out of the next plague (locusts) if he wants to change his mind. His officials plead with him, but Pharaoh won’t budge.

The end of this chapter is a fascinating piece of the plagues story that I have not paused to consider by itself before. The plague of darkness provides unique symbolism that we see repeated in other parts of the Bible as well. Imagine three days of darkness so dark that you could not even move. Sounds similar to two other Bible stories: Jonah in the darkness of the great fish’s belly and Jesus laid in a tomb and descending into the depths of darkness. Verse 23 reminds us exactly what it is like to be in the presence of God: “…there was light as usual where the people of Israel lived.”

Here’s your freedom for today: God makes it possible for us to see. We are surrounded by spiritual darkness, and yet where God’s people go we are still able to see. God shines a light on the lives of those who follow him, so that we can see spiritual realities hidden from those in darkness. When we are given spiritual eyes, we can see others in new ways. We can speak into situations with supernatural wisdom and insight. We can understand spiritual dynamics at work in our lives and the lives of others. The Bible also calls itself a “light for our path.” Reading God’s word illuminates our understanding so that we know how to live our most free lives.