God is stronger - by Bec Bonython

Have you ever met a stiff-necked person and proud person? One who is sooooo stubborn that even when you offer them something that will benefit them…they reject it?  Why is that, I’ll never know. But there are a few of them around the place!

In Exodus 4:21 God gives Moses a heads up about how Pharaoh is going to respond when he presents his request for the Israelites to leave Egypt: "The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you that power to do. But I will harden his hearts so that he will not let the people go.”"

Pharaoh was not going to take the Israelite’s leaving very well!  And that’s understandable! They were his slaves.  They responded to his every whim. They made him and his empire look grand and majestic.  Why would he give that up without a fight!

So after bricks without straw, a myriad of miracles,  multiple broken promises, plagues 1 through 9, and the eventual death of his firstborn son (plague #10)….. after 10 opportunities to soften his heart, Pharaoh FINALLY gives in.

Take hope that God is the God of the first, second, third, ninth, tenth chances.  The plagues, as terrible as they were, actually demonstrated God’s mercy in not completely destroying Egypt. Pharaoh was the one who got impatient, not God. There may still be consequences for not obeying the first time, but know that God will never get impatient and never give up on us.

So, why would God deliberately harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Why would He allow that pain and suffering to come upon His own people, the Israelites!

Exodus 9:16 gives us the answer… God wanted to show Moses and the Israelites His glory and power and might, so that His name would be proclaimed in all the earth. If Pharaoh had said yes after the first plague, they may have mistaken it for Pharaoh just doing what they asked, and they would have thought ‘they’ had fixed the problem. But after 10 plagues, and only when it seemed impossible that an exodus would ever happen, Pharaoh says yes. ONLY God could have made it possible. ONLY God had changed the circumstance.  The miracle was ALL by God’s hand; no-one else.

Second, God wanted to show Pharaoh that he was the only one true God. The God above all other gods.  Each of the plagues reinforced the fact that the God “I AM” was bigger, mightier, and more powerful than any other god the Egyptians worshipped. I AM was bigger than:

Plague 1 – blood – the Egyptian god of the Nile (Hapi)

Plague 2 – frogs – the Egyptian god of fertility and water (Heket)

Plague 3 – lice – the Egyptian god of the earth (Geb)

Plague 4 – swarms – the Egyptian god of flies and beetles (Khepri)

Plague 5 – pestilence – the Egyptian god of animals (Apis)

Plague 6 – boils – the Egyptian god of nature and things (Isis)

Plague 7 – hail and fire – the Egyptian god of the sky (Nut)

Plague 8 – locusts – the Egyptian god of storms and disorder (Set)

Plague 9 – darkness – the Egyptian god of the sun (Ra)

Plague 10 – firstborn – the Egyptian war god, and the divine child (Horus)

(*Plague representation taken from a sermon preached by Pastor Barry Silverback)

Take confidence that our God sees and understands our circumstances. Put your trust in Him again and have faith that He is sovereign AND that He cares for you. God wants to make sure we give Him the glory for everything that happens in our lives.  

Also know that our God is stronger, more powerful and mighty than any other thing people worship. He is bigger than the god of sport, the god of money, the god of social media, the god of beauty, the god of status, and the god of power.  ‘I AM’ is the only true God. It is only through Him and in His power, will we be rescued and live in the promise land. Consequently, our response must be to give Him all the praise and glory and honour in everything we do.