Today's reading was about a very familiar story: The plagues sent upon Egypt. But why send the plagues? Why didn't God just soften Pharaoh's heart and free His people from their slavery? He saw the suffering of His people before He sent Moses and He saw how much greater it became after He sent Moses. So why allow them to suffer a greater injustice and have to endure the plagues along with the Egyptian people instead of just setting them free?
Who were the plagues meant to teach? I often times feel as if we think the plagues were meant to punish the Egyptians and teach them who God is. To a degree they were. God definitely wanted to make sure that the Egyptians knew He was God. But, I think they were meant to teach His people even more. To teach and show them about the great, loving, just, and gracious God they were called to serve.
What would have happened had God just sent Moses to a softhearted Pharaoh? Who would the people have attributed their freedom to? Pharaoh? Moses? Maybe even Aaron? God had to make sure that His children knew the full extent of their bondage and that only a loving and gracious God could set them free. He needed to make sure that they knew their God was able to see them through their journey before they even took one step of it.
(I'm jumping ahead here a bit) What happened after the Israelites were finally set free? They faced an impassable sea in front of them with a fierce Nation pursing behind them. They feared and saw no way out. They felt abandoned by their leader and their God at the base of Mount Sinai and felt they needed to create a new God to help them. They complained about not having any food and when God provided they complained that it was the same thing every day. They complained about not having any water. They faced illness and death. They faced a "giant" enemy as they prepared to enter the promise land and feared their God was not big enough to conquer them.
Let me ask you a question; How much worse would their attitudes along the journey have been had God just simply "set them free" and not showed them how powerful He was and what He was capable of through the plagues? How much more would they have complained if they had just thought that it was Pharaoh who let them go and not the all-powerful God who loved them dearly? They would have been worse!
Let me ask you another question; How is your attitude as you go through your journey called life? Do you forget the glory of God that has been displayed in so many different ways in your life and the lives of others? How much more would you complain had God sheltered you from suffering and not allowed you to endure some hardships so that you could know the God who loves you and would do anything, including giving up his life for you?
We all have to endure "plagues" in our lives, situations where we and sometimes those around us are suffering. We all to often think of these situations as "punishments" for being a sinful people. But I want to challenge your thinking during your times of struggle. Perhaps it is because you have a God who loves you so dearly and desire for you to know Him in ways you never dreamed possible. But, if He simply "lets you go" you would miss out on experiencing the awesome power of God. He can part your Red Sea, send you the manna from heaven according to whatever he knows your need to be, He can defeat the giants in your life and lead you to a peace and joy that you did not know existed.
It comes down to focus. Are your only smelling the stench of blood soaked water? Are you only seeing frogs, gnats and flies? Look deeper and what you will find is a God who is letting you know that He is capable of meeting your every need if you just learn to trust what He is doing and remember that He loves you so very much.
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