Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 12 before reading the devotional below.
It’s just like God to pause for symbolism. Pharaoh just got served his notice that all the firstborn sons in Egypt will die. In the midst of such a serious battle, God does not neglect to take a moment with his own people. They are, after all, his children. He wants to use this momentous time to teach them something about who he is and what he is doing. God does not kill for killing’s sake. He does not delight in any death. Pharaoh still has time to turn his heart around.
In reading this story of the first Passover, you may wonder why God uses so much animal killing to interact with his people. In large part, this is because the very first act that had to be done after Adam and Eve sinned was to kill an animal. In order to protect their dignity (now that they had a knowledge of evil), God had to sacrifice one of his precious animals. The very ones that Adam was tasked with naming had to die to protect humanity. Of course all of that could only provide an earthly kind of covering, so Jesus had to protect humanity by shedding his own blood as a perfect man. In this story, the Egyptian blood that was shed also provided salvation for God’s people as they were finally freed from slavery.
Here’s your freedom for today: God will always cover you. He will never shame you. When Satan shames you, God will cover you. He never intended for death in his Garden, yet he was willing to make a sacrifice of an animal to cover and clothe Adam and Eve. Central to the entire message of salvation is God’s willingness to sacrifice his own Son to create an eternal, spiritual covering that is immutable. Any moment that you feel shame, run to God instead of away from him. He knows how to make it all right again.