A Year with God

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.

God Doesn't Play Fair

The LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the Loan says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians' houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."
And the LORD did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh's palace and his officials' houses. Throughout Egypt the land was mined because of the swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go sacrifice to your God within the country."
But Moses said, "It would not be right to do that, because what we will sacrifice to the Lox) our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in front of them, won't they stone us? We must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LOUD our God as He instructs us." - Exodus 8:20-27 HCSB

God knows the best way to change a mind. He was in no hurry with haraoh's mind. God distinguished between his own and those who were not his own. This illustrated an important point about God's love. How his love is perceived depends on the relationship the object of God's love has with him. Those who love God will recognize God's hand as beneficial. Those who do not love God can't see it. The Egyptians suffered, but for the Israelites, the plague brought them one step closer to their liberation.

For the first time, Pharaoh's magicians found themselves unable to duplicate the plague and informed Pharaoh that clearly there was a god involved in events. But the plague went away the last time Pharaoh lied to Moses. Despite his refusal to keep his promise to Moses, the previous plague had not come back. Pharaoh believed the slaves' God was not as powerful as he was, so he didn't intend to back down. He needed the slaves.

God was patient, and though it might have seemed to both Pharaoh and the Israelites that nothing was changing, God's plan was in motion. It would work when and how it was supposed to.