No one untouched...

Pharaoh refused to submit to God even after nine displays of His deity.  Pharaoh considered himself a god.  Nine times, God Almighty had shown His supremacy over gods of Egypt.  Now, He would bring the final and ultimate plague and people would die….the oldest of every family.

Imagine the devastation.  Imagine how every single family was affected.  Imagine the chaos and disturbance of authority.  No family would escape, no one would be untouched by this devastation.

“ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” (Exodus 12:30 NIV)


Pharaoh must not have been the oldest.  He lived.  But he lost his first born. Perhaps his parents, his wife, grandparents, uncles, staff, friends.  Death in every house.

Think how your sudden absence might affect others.  What if suddenly you were gone?   Lots of people would be sad, and other people would find their lives upside down.

We sang a song in high school choir, “No man is an island, No man stands alone”.  We are individuals responsible for our own actions and behavior.  Yet, our choices and behavior don’t just affect us personally.  We don’t reside on an island all by ourselves.

Pharaoh chose to reject the authority of God and an entire nation was affected.  No one was untouched.  Death in every house.

I purpose to make my choices prayerfully.  I purpose to consider how my choices affect others.  I do not want to be responsible for heartbreak of any kind in another life.

Lord help.

Tell it like it was....

I get very nostalgic during certain times of the year.  I feel it coming on now.  Holiday times with their events and deadlines are beginning to press in.  As I prepare for the seasons ahead I can’t help but remember the seasons past.  (Makes me think of that old song “The Way We Were” and “Every Picture Tells A Story Don’t It?”)

 I recall the way we all were.  I see photos that bring back a rush of emotional memories of times past and remember how it was.  

When the Israelite people followed Moses across the parted Red Sea, God instructed them to do certain things that would bring back those memories.  God intended for them to tell it like it was.  He wanted each rising generation to have opportunity to be curious about their heritage.  He wanted each individual  to be taught about what had happened and how it had come about.  

 “…when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them….”(Exodus 12:27 NIV)

We all have a story.  Every life, however young or old, is being written.  The part that has been written can’t be changed but it can be told.  We can learn from it and others can learn.

I purpose to use every opportunity to tell it like it was before He changed me.  And I purpose to live out the story of my life in a way that honors my Father.  He knows it beginning to end.

Give me a hand....

The Israelite people had walked miles and miles.  Every time the cloud moved, they packed up and followed it.  Water was scarce and God provided. They craved meat to eat and God provided.   Day after day, mile after mile, Moses led them.  He listened to the complaints, and there were plenty.   He was the go-to guy for every problem, doing his best to work out the conflicts between them all.

How exhausting.  Poor old Moses, and Moses was indeed OLD.  After all that stuff with Pharaoh, walking all that way in the opposite direction of Egypt, listening to problems and trying to work things out, ole’ Mose must have been worn to a frazzle.

I know the feeling.  Oh, I realize I am no Moses by any stretch of the imagination, but I can relate.

And I have experienced God’s blessing when He has placed alongside me, my own Aarons and Hurs.  I have valued those who have been there to give me a hand when I needed more than the two I have.

“ When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” (Exodus 17:12 NIV)

God knows when we need a support group.  I suppose He also knows when we place too much trust in that support group, and too little on Him.

I purpose to look first to my Father for provision and empowerment.  I know that He alone knows what support I need far better than I know for myself.

He is God.  I am not.

This is a test.....

I am not a good test taker.  I have a pitiful memory and if the information is not personally interesting to me, I can’t recall it.  The only way I do well on a test is to go over and over and over it.  Over and over again.

When I am learning the lyrics to a song I intend to sing, I have to practice for weeks, and I have to get rid of the cheat notes.  If I have the lyrics written down, I’ll keep looking at them, depending on my reading skills instead of my memory!

I hate tests.  But they come.

 “I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my Teaching or not.” (Exodus 16:4 The Message)

God knows if I will fail or pass.  He has promised that He will not allow what I can not bear up under.  “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He'll never let you be pushed past your limit; He'll always be there to help you come through it.”(1 Corinthians 10:13 The Message)

I still hate tests.

But they reveal to me my weaknesses.  They force me to surrender my stubborn self-will.  They show me that I am not as independent as I might think.

My Father continues to allow me to be tested.  His purpose is to build me up, not tear me down.

Did I say that I hate tests…..?

Singing my heart out...

It’s so easy to praise God in times of victory.  When I have come thru a struggle, I can sing my heart out, even if tears of joy flow down my face, I can sing.

When the Red Sea swallowed the pursuing enemy, the Israelites stood on the far bank watching.  It was a time of relief.  It seemed like a close call, but they were safe.  God had miraculously delivered them by separating the waters so they could keep moving away from Pharaoh’s army.  Though that army chased after them, God didn’t hold back the water for them and they all perished as the returning waters piled upon them.

I bet there was shouts of joy.  Certainly, there they must have been celebrating as they sang their hearts out praising God.  “..then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: "I will sing to the LORD…. The LORD is my strength and my defense…Who among the gods is like you, LORD?” (Exodus 15:1,2,11 NIV)

Praise can be given in many ways.  Since music was God’s creation, how fitting that we use it to praise Him.  It wasn’t a song of thanks, though surely they were thankful, thanking God is not the same as praising Him.

As the season of thankfulness approaches, I purpose to not stop with just thanking God even though I do appreciate what He has done for me and in me.

I purpose to sing my heart out in praise.

Get on with it....

Moses told them,  "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14 NIV)

Moses said the right thing.  He looked and sounded brave and trusting.  His words said that He had faith that God was in charge.  The people Moses led heard encouraging positive words from his mouth.  But Moses own heart must have struggled with fear and doubt too.

"Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.  Raise your staff and stretch out your hand…”(Exodus 14:16 NIV)

In prayer time with God, Moses was honest. He found himself also paralyzed.  He cried out to God.  Maybe he even whined.  Moses told the people to be still, and God told Moses to get them moving.

A time of difficulty is a dilemma for me. Often, I have been prone to act even when unsure about what to do.  At other times, I am prone to excuse myself from taking action by saying I was ’praying about it’.  I’ve said that I don’t want to ‘get ahead of God’ but I think maybe I’ve stayed ‘behind God’ so long that He ran off and left me!!

There is a time to be still and wait for God to fight my battle.  There is also a time to get up and move on.

I purpose to depend on Him to provide discernment and wisdom to know the difference.

An impossible situation....

The Israelites had seen ten supernatural events.  Ten times God had spoken thru Moses about what He was going to do if Pharaoh did not obey God’s directions.  Ten times it had happened exactly as Pharaoh had been warned.  The Israelite people had been spared.  God had made it plain that He was protecting the people He had chosen.  Yet when these same people found themselves in a difficult situation, they had no confidence in the God that brought them to where they stood.

“The Israelites were terrified. They cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Why did you bring us to the desert to die? Weren't there any graves in Egypt? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exodus 14:10-11 NIrV)

I too have asked God why.  “Why did you have me come to this place only to face this?”  I am ashamed to say that even after all the times I have experienced God’s working in my life, like the Israelites, I fly into an emotional tailspin when I find myself in situations that are unpleasant and threatening.

The frightened Israelites not only didn’t remember all the miraculous activities they had witnessed, they didn’t accurately remember what they thought or said.

“We told you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians.' It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the desert!" (Exodus 14:12 NIrV)

Fear is an awful enemy.  It colors everything.  When we do not turn our eyes, our minds, our hearts, and our wills toward God, fear can consume.

I purpose that in those times, rather than give in to fear and despair, I will remember my Father’s instructions to my siblings at the Red Sea.

  "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14 NIV)

The long way around....

God’s people were finally released from Pharaoh’s slave camps.  They had lived their lives there but they knew their history and they knew the promises of God.  There was a promised land for them.  A place of plenty.  A place of blessing.  So they followed the deliverer God had sent.

It was really not far to where they ended up, but they were taken the long way around.  God took them that way on purpose.  These people knew nothing about how to function with their new found freedom.  They now had no slave drivers.  They had no one to force them into anything.  They simply had God leading them and providing for them, and they were faced with the decision to trust Him.

Little did they know what He was protecting them from as He chose the route across the wilderness.  They weren’t ready for much.  That was plain to see when dust from the army of Pharaoh showed up behind them.  They were terrified and ready to surrender.

There were other enemies and other battles ahead of them, but God would have to prepare them to face and fight.  There were lots of obstacles between where they were and where they were going.  Physical obstacles and spiritual obstacles.

“The shortest road from Goshen to Canaan went through the Philistine country. But God didn't lead them that way. God said, "If they have to go into battle, they might change their minds. They might return to Egypt." (Exodus 13:7 NIrV)

When I catch every red light, when I get behind a slow moving vehicle, when I can’t find a parking place, or any other time that my time seems to be wasted, I most always wonder if God is interceding and interrupting my haste.  How many times I’ve come up on a wreck and wondered if I hadn’t been at every single red light, could I have been involved in that accident.

God certainly has the authority to put obstacles in my path for whatever reason He chooses.  Perhaps I need testing.  Perhaps I need training.  Perhaps I need reminding that He is God, and I am not.  He knows every leg of my journey, He knows what I am ready for and what I am not.

I really prefer the easy route, I prefer the fastest route, but I purpose to trust Him to lead me around it or thru it, whatever it is.