Thankful For Affliction

Thus says the LORD,

'By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand,

and it will be turned to blood. 

Exodus 7:17

Moses came to Pharaoh with a request and with a sign. The request was to let the children of Israel go into the wilderness to worship their God. Moses did not even come to Pharaoh demanding freedom for the Hebrew slaves. God sent Moses to Pharaoh simply requesting a time for the children of Israel to come and celebrate a feast to him. Yet Pharaoh would not listen.

Moses returns to Pharaoh to request again. This time he comes with a sign to show the authority of the God in whom he comes. When Pharaoh's magicians mimic the sign that Moses displayed Pharaoh hardens his heart. He refuses to let the Hebrews go. He pays no attention to the fact that Moses staff swallowed up the staffs of his magicians. This sign of God performed by Moses does not humble Pharaoh, it hardens him.

Then the LORD said to Moses,

'Pharoah's heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.

Exodus 7:14

The sign has been given. The easy opportunity has passed. Now the judgments begin. My friend, God always sends a sign before He begins His judgments. His desire is not for us to perish. He desires for us to live. We will see how His judgments start out small and increase with the continued rebellion. Jesus said, "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." (Matthew 24:8)

The judgments of God come like a woman in labor. The pain comes light at first and increases with intensity as the time of birth draws closer. Why does God work this way? Because, once again, He is not willing that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

With each judgment that God will send upon Egypt there also comes an opportunity to repent, to turn to Him in obedience. God is not just after the hearts of the Hebrew slaves, He is after the hearts of all of Egypt, and the hearts of all the world. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). These great judgments will spread the name and fame of God throughout the land. We know this from a harlot in Jericho as she declared, "For we have heard how the LORD..." (Joshua 2:10)

God uses the very staff with which He performed the sign before Pharaoh to bring about the first judgment, the first plague upon the land of Egypt. Moses "lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood." (Exodus 7:20) What is amazing is that it was not just the water in the Nile that turned to blood. The water in the homes throughout the land of Egypt stored in vessels of wood and stone were even turned to blood.

Pharaoh turns to his magicians and then they too use their magic arts to do something similar, and Pharaoh once again hardens his heart. "Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this." (Exodus 7:23)

Pharaoh thought he had power of his own therefore he hardened his heart in response to this act of God. Pharaoh saw no reason to submit to the authority of God because he thought he too was powerful. Pharaoh thought himself self-sufficient, but there is only One who can make that declaration (Psalm 50:7-12). My friend, we must be very careful, because we can harden our own hearts in the very same way.  

One thing that perplexes me is that Pharaoh once again misses the obvious. If his magicians were as great as God, why could they not reverse the situation. Why could they not turn the Nile filled with blood back into the Nile flowing with water?

We read that the Egyptians had to dig all around the Nile to find drinking water and we read that seven days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile (Exodus 7:24-25). Seven days and the magicians could not reverses the hand of God, yet this appears to not even cross the mind of Pharaoh.

Oh precious one, the lies we will believe when we do not want to accept the truth. How very sad it is to watch the Pharaoh tighten his fist in the face of God. He is not the first to do so and he will not be the last. There is another day of judgment coming. A day when God will not just be judging a nation, but the whole world. In that day many will tighten there fist in the face of God and refuse to believe the truth. One will come with even more power than Jannes's and Jambres's and many will be deceived because they have rejected God and His Christ.

that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan,

with all power and signs and false wonders,

and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish,

because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence

so that they will believe what is false,

in order that they may be judged who did not believe the truth,

but took pleasure in wickedness. 

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

This judgment coming on Egypt in Exodus is the day that the children of Israel are to be set free and consecrated unto God as His chosen nation to represent Him to all the world. It also is a foreshadowing of the great day of judgment that is to come. The day when God will concecrate all His chosen, from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue, (Revelation 5:9) to Himself forever and finally destroy Satan and those who follow him.

In Revelation 8:8 the Word declares, "The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood." The waters one day will once again be turned to blood, and in that day some will fear God and be saved, but sadly, most will shake their fist in the face of God and show "no concern even for this." (Exodus 7:23) 

Oh Father,

Thank You for Your signs. Thank You for Your judgments. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word... It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." (Psalm 119:67, 71). Thank You for loving me enough to pour out Your wrath upon me. For if I had never experienced Your wrath, I would not have cried out for Your mercy. Had I never cried out for Your mercy, I would not have experienced Your grace. Had I not have experienced Your grace, I would still be dead in my sins, seperated from You for all eternity. Thank You, my God, for being so patient with me.

My Jesus, I love You so.

In Your name I pray,

Amen