Start over...

After all the plagues, after all Pharaoh’s opportunities, after all the suffering he brought on the people of the nation he ruled, after all that had happened, there came an end to it.  A tragic end for the Egyptians.  For the enslaved Israelite nation, the end of an era.

"From now on, this month will be your first month. Each of your years will begin with it. Speak to the whole community of Israel…..”(Exodus 12:3 NIrV)

For some four hundred years, this had been their life.  The adults knew no other life.  Children heard stories handed down from great grandparents about life before slavery.  Life had been good.  Easy.  Egyptians were friends, not enemies.

Things change.

God knew the story from the beginning.  When Joseph’s brothers sold him off to those slave traders, which is how they all got into Egypt in the first place, God knew how the story would go.  Nothing that happened was a surprise to Him.  Not the birth of the nation, not the growth of that nation, not the years of blessing and plenty, not the years of bitter enslavement.

When they left the slave camps of Egypt, God gave them instructions to start over.  There would be a whole new calendar, a whole new way of marking the times and events of life.

“From now on..”, God said.

"The LORD will bring you into the land of Canaan. He will give it to you, just as he promised he would. He even took an oath when he made the promise to you and your people of long ago.” (Exodus 13:11 NIrV)


While we are not in the situation of those slaves, we all come to places that mark the end of an era.  Those times should be no surprise to God’s children.  He is faithful to continue to lead, guide, and bless.  Even when we are turning the page of a brand new calendar.

He is faithful.

Tell it like it is...

Often, the story told from different viewpoints sounds like a whole different story.  A spin can be put on it, details left out or elaborated on and the story takes on a new life.  Like the news broadcast companies, there is  a slant to a lot of stories.

I’ve sat and listened to my boys telling stories from when they were young and wondered why they remember the things they do.  Things that made an impact on their memory often missed mine completely.   The stories they remember best are those told to them by their grandparents.


“…you'll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you'll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you'll all know that I am GOD." (Exodus 10:2 The Message)


The Israelite children lived thru a lot.  Ten times plagues came and brought devastation.  Over and over their parents and grandparents watched the power and might of God as He displayed His authority over the so-called gods of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  Children might remember about all that happened, but God intended them to have some understanding about those events.  He made a point to instruct those parents and grandparents to tell  the story.  God said tell it like it is.  Don’t depend on a child’s memory.  Don’t let a slant be put on it.  Don’t let emotions run loose and make it bigger and don’t let political correctness decrease the magnitude of it.

Tell it like it is.

Tell the generations after you what you have witnessed.  Tell them how Your Creator God wielded His power over Egypt.  And you won’t need to spin it, give it a slant, or elaborate.

Those children grew up and at God’s direction, re- told the stories of their deliverance.

Do my children hear the stories of MY deliverance? Have I told the stories of how God has acted in my life, how He has guided me and protected me?

“… tell your children and grandchildren ……………… how I performed my signs ……….. that you may know that I am the LORD." (Exodus 10:2 NIV)


He is God, and I am not.  THAT is how it is.

Say when....

In this age of fast food and speedy internet, I find myself usually saying "NOW!’.

I want my food now.

I want to be checked out now.
I want to be waited on and helped now.
I want my phone faster, I want my computer and internet service to be faster.
I want my deliveries to be faster.
I want people to do what they are supposed to do without being told ‘when’ they should.

Not only do I want things ‘now’, I expect.

I expect my food to be what I ordered.
I expect service to be available and plentiful.
I expect there to be ways to improve what is not up to standard.
I expect people to do what they are supposed to do.
I expect people to be honest and fair.

I’ve expected so many things that turned out to be just as I expected.  But occasionally, that unexpected thing knocks the wind out of my sail.

I can voice all my desires and ‘say when’ moments but that doesn’t mean I always get them.  Though I can’t wrap my brain around it, God is not affected by time.  He says when and He is far more patient than I am.

Scripture tells about times that God would ‘say when’. times when He spoke and didn’t even have to say ‘now’.  Whatever He said, simply WAS.  Whatever He says still,  simply IS.

“Let there be light”, and there was light. (Genesis 1:3 KJV)


When Pharaoh had frogs all over his house, God allowed him to ‘say when’ he would like for God to remove them.  Incredible.  Ole’ Pharaoh had no idea how out of the ordinary it is for God to allow US to ‘say when’!!!

"I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile."   "Tomorrow," Pharaoh said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God.   The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile." (Exodus 8:9-11 NIV)

God had a purpose in letting Pharaoh ‘say when’.  He was making it evident just who was in charge.  God sent the frogs, and when the frogs were eliminated at the exact time Pharaoh said, it would be hard for Pharaoh to explain that away.  Pharaoh would have one less excuse to not believe that God is God, and Pharaoh was simply was NOT.

God hasn’t let me ‘say when’ lately.  God has allowed things to which I would have said an emphatic ‘not now’!  But unlike the situation with Pharaoh and the frogs, I don’t need God to display the truth to me that He is in charge.


I purpose to not presume to ‘say when’.
He is God, and I am not.

Plagues of frogs....

Frog.  I see a little green frog and I immediately am challenged to Fully Rely On God.  FROG. There have been times when it seemed I saw a little green frog every single day, sometimes more than once.
 
I've been studying the life of Moses and the passages of this week's study contain the stories about the plagues that God sent on the Egyptians.  God intended for His people to be freed from slavery.  Each of the ten plagues were a direct assault on one of Egypt's many gods.  They believed the Nile river was the blood stream of their god Hapi.  God turned the water of that river to real blood.  For seven days there was no fresh water from that river, only blood.  Imagine the stench....

The Egyptians thought frogs were sacred.  Heqet was the frog-like goddess of life and fertility. They wouldn't kill frogs.  When God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh with the message again to let His people go, God warned them that He would send a second plague, a plague of frogs.

I guess Pharaoh hadn't any idea of how many frogs God could come up with.  The Bible tells us that frogs were everywhere.  "

If you refuse..... I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.  The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.  The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.'" (Exodus 8:1-4 NIV)

Ick.

I guess Pharaoh thought so too, he "summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD." (vs. 8)

I wonder what the Egyptians thought from then on, each time they saw a frog, did they remember? Did the frog remind them of the power of God?  Did it remind them that God does exactly what He says He will do.  Did they remember that when God makes a statement or promise, that they could fully rely on Him to do just that? 

Fully Rely On God.  I don't need but one little green frog to remind me of that.......