Weekly Devotion

God performed mighty miracles for all the Israelites to see. He performed the ten mighty plagues and He led them out of Egypt by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was absolutely visible to them and He proved to be totally trustworthy as everything He told them had come to pass. Now He ordered them to camp along the shore of the Red sea opposite Baal-zephon and He even warned Moses that the Egyptians will come to attack them, but that He will save them.

Now after all this reassurance one would expect the Israelites to fully trust in Him and to rely on Him to save them. After all He had promised to bring them to the Promised Land, so it would seem totally logical to me that they should hold on to that promise, after all the miraculous deeds that He had done. But look what happened the moment Pharaoh and his army arrived on the scene whilst they were camped along the shore:

'The people began to panic, and they cried out to the Lord for help. Then they turned against Moses and complained, "Why did you bring us out here in the wilderness to die? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone while we were still in Egypt? Our Egyptian slavery was far better that dying out here in the wilderness!" Exodus 14:10 - 12

They had a total nervous breakdown! They took their eyes off from God and focused totally on the problem facing them. They even became irrational, implicating that Moses on his own forced two million people to leave Egypt against their will! That is ridiculous, but that is exactly how human nature reacts when they are confronted with problems. They pass the buck!

Remember that Adam did it too. He said that it was Eve's fault that they ate of the forbidden fruit and Eve said it was the snake's fault. They didn't take responsibility for what was happening to them.

We do the same thing when we are faced with problems. We take our eyes off from God and we pass the buck blaming someone else. We do it a lot of the time. Plus we exaggerate our problem most of the time. Sometimes we need to see our problems in the correct perspective too. With God by their side, the Israelites had nothing to fear! And we don't have anything to fear either. God is bigger than our problems.

We must learn valuable lessons from them and try to apply it to our own lives. First of all, keep your eyes focused on God, your only true Life-Source. Secondly don't blame anyone else for the situation you are in and thirdly see your problems in the right perspective. Normally the problem is not as big as we think it is, especially if we have God on our side. Sit quietly and think rationally about it and things will fall into perspective and God's Holy Spirit will give you guidance on how to deal with your problem.

Thank you Lord for teaching us so many things in Your lovely Word. You are amazing and we only want to have eyes for You and see that our problems are small compared to Your mighty power. Thank you Lord. Amen

The Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt like a triumphant army. They were free from slavery and free from the Egyptians. They must have felt so relieved. But then God did a strange thing. He took a detour towards the Promised Land. He didn't lead them straight towards it. Now why did He do that? Scripture tells us the reason:

"God did not lead them on the road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest way from Egypt to the Promised Land. God said, "If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." Exodus 13:17

And it would most probably have happened if they went straight ahead. The Israelites have never been in a battle before this and they would most probably have had the fright of their lives and returned to the enemy they knew (Egypt) than the enemy they didn't know (the Philistines). God knew this and led them around the Philistine country. He knew they would be ready to face them later with His help, but the time was just not right now.

Sometimes in our lives God leads us on detours on the way to our 'Promised Land', because He knows of all the obstacles in the way if we were to go straight ahead. He knows the safest and the best route. We don't and if we feel ourselves being led on detours we shouldn't complain, but we should follow with a happy heart that God knows best. He won't delay our journey unnecessarily, He will have good reasons that we need to trust.

All we need to do is look to Jesus and His Word, just like the Israelites did. God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of cloud by night and they looked up to it and followed it. God never left them on their own:

"And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from their sight." Exodus 13:22

And God will not remove His guidance from your sight either. Just keep on looking up. He is faithful and true and He will lead you forward step by step. Who knows maybe you will also see mighty miracles along the way, just like the Israelites did with the wonderful parting of the Red Sea!

Father God, we want to keep You forever in our sight. We want to follow You even if it doesn't seem logical to our human minds, as we know that You are mighty and You know best. Thank you Lord. Amen

God had devastated Egypt with the first 9 plagues. He literally brought them to their knees. All that they had left was their lives and the lives of their family and friends, but then God warned them that a last plague was coming, a plague that will finally break their resolve. All their first born sons will die. Can you imagine the terror that must have gripped them when they heard this? I probably would have tried to keep my son very close to me, hoping that I would be able to protect him somehow.

The Israelites heard of this as well. Moses told them that this was the last plague, after this they would be free to go. He told them to prepare a perfect Passover lamb, without spot or blemish as a substitute for their own first born sons. He also told them to make bread dough without yeast as they wouldn't have time to wait for it to rise, plus they had to wear their travelling clothes, ready to go. They were also instructed to eat the food quickly, because once they receive the news that they can go, they had to move quickly.

And what is wonderful to me is that they followed all his instructions to the smallest detail. For all they knew Pharaoh could have changed his mind again and there could have been another 5 plagues still to come, but they trusted in God's Word. Even though they were not free yet, they trusted God that He will lead them out as He had promised He would. Their preparation for walking into freedom was an act of faith. They were preparing themselves for God's plan.

We too need to prepare ourselves whilst waiting for God's promises to come to pass. We too need to show our faith by doing what God has asked us to do in preparation for the task ahead. Several biblical characters had to wait a long time before God used them as He had promised and in that time they had to prepare themselves for the task. For example look at David. He was anointed to be king whilst he was still a young boy and it only came to pass that he became king over the whole Israel at age 37. And in the mean time he had to prepare himself for the task of being king, he had to learn how to lead people, how to live by example, how to fight for what is right etc.

Look at Paul for example. After his wonderful conversion, God took him into Arabia for 3 years in order for the Holy Spirit to teach him His ways. After that he was sent to his hometown of Tarsus for several years, before he began the ministry he was called for, all the while learning from God how to be the apostle He wanted him to be.

There are several examples, but the lesson is this, prepare now while you are waiting. Demonstrate your faith in God that He is mighty and what He said will come to pass. It is when faith meets faith that wonders happen and your destiny creeps forward to meet you!

Lord please imprint Your promises into our minds that we can start preparing for all You have for us. We believe in You and we know that it will all come to pass. We move forward in faith towards You. In Jesus' Name. Amen

God brought Egypt to its knees by means of executing ten devastating plagues on them. Most of their animals were dead, their crops were destroyed, their health suffered, all the fish in the Nile were dead and they all lost their firstborn son. It was truly devastating. God also caused them to lavish the Israelites with loads of gifts as they made their way out of the land, and due to this, they became even poorer. And to top it all off, their free slaves were gone. They actually had to work now for a change. They must have felt hopeless.

They were devastated and I wonder if they were angry at their leader too? I mean if he had let the Israelites go after the first plague they would have at least skipped the last 9 plagues. But he wouldn't listen. Even his own advisors later begged him to let the people go, but he refused. He simply couldn't accept that anyone was greater than he was. In their culture he was god, he was the morning and the evening star, he was 'the man' so to speak. No one has ever been greater than he was and yet now he was confronted with 'this' God he couldn't control and it was too much for him to accept. He hardened his own heart towards God. He didn't want to lose face and acknowledge that anyone or anything was greater than he was.

It was only after the 6^th plague that God passed judgment and hardened his heart for him even further. After each plague from then on the Bible clearly states that "The Lord hardened his heart." God wasn't being unfair when He did this; He merely confirmed Pharaoh's prideful decision and set the painful consequences of his action into motion. God didn't force Pharaoh to reject Him, He gave him every opportunity to change his mind during the first 6 plagues, but he didn't. He didn't want to acknowledge God as God and superior to him and that was his downfall. God didn't delight in this, after all God says in Ezekiel 33:11 "I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people." But enough is enough; sooner or later evil people will be punished for their wicked deeds.

Don't make the same mistake and only acknowledge God in your life when calamity strikes and leaves you with no other alternative than to recognize God in your life. God should be recognized as King long before your pride needs to be disciplined. God needs to receive the proper respect He deserves as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One day every knee will bow before Him as King, even Pharaoh will be there, proclaiming Jesus to be King, but it would be too late.

I experienced a small part of this when I didn't want to listen to God's voice when He wanted me to do something. He told me over and over again, but I made excuses and didn't want to listen and as time went on His voice grew softer and softer and I didn't hear Him anymore, my heart had become hardened. Luckily I realized what was going on and quickly repented and went ahead and did what God asked me to do. What would have happened if I didn't? Luckily I would never know. The point is God won't force His will on anyone, but beware before your heart becomes hardened, it might just have grave consequences.

Lord we want to follow You no matter what. We want a heart that is soft and loving and we don't want a heart of stone. Help us to stand strong against pride and lustful actions of the heart and look up to You as our Deliverer and Strength. Amen

God continued to display His mighty deeds and wonders to all the Egyptians and Israelites alike. And Moses was obedient to everything God told him. He didn't tire but went back again and again to unrelenting Pharaoh. Moses didn't know how many plagues were left before it was the end, but he didn't question God, but continued on in faith. And at the eight plague, the plague of the locusts, God said the following to Moses:

"You will be able to tell wonderful stories to your children and grandchildren about the marvelous things I am doing among the Egyptians to prove that I am the Lord." Exodus 10:2

God was telling Moses two things here, first of all He encouraged Moses that they are going to get through this and that there will come a time when he will have grandchildren too and where he can have a wonderful time with them and tell them of how mighty God is. And the second thing is that God wanted Moses to talk about Him in the future and to share Him with his children. What wonderful stories Moses had to tell! Wow, it must have been amazing to hear firsthand how God 'put the Egyptians in their place'. But we have wonderful stories to tell too. We have great things that the Lord does for us today and we must make sure that we share it too. We need to tell our children and grandchildren, in order to help them grow in their faith in the Lord. In fact we should be bubbling over, telling of God's good deeds to everyone.

This reminds me of Deuteronomy 6:7

"Repeat My commands again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again."

In other words whatever you do, talk about God. and not only talk about Him (talk can be cheap sometimes) but live Him out to all around you. Whether you are at home, whether you are travelling (at work), whether you are relaxing or whether you are busy. Portray Jesus to your children and to all around you. Don't have different values at home than at work, or different values when you are relaxing and enjoying yourself and another set of values when you are busy. No, be consistently like Jesus wherever you go and show Him to the world. Your children's faith can waver easily if your walk and talk is not the same and more than likely they will follow your walk and not your talk. Non-believers too. They only have us to look at to see Jesus, no one else can show Him to them. Are you portraying Jesus, or are your walk and your talk two different things?

Lord Jesus, we want to live holy lives well pleasing to You. We find it very difficult sometimes, but thank You for Your Spirit inside of us that strengthen us and help us to grow more and more firm in You. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen

God sent one plague after another on the Egyptians. The magicians of Pharaoh could imitate the first two plagues. They could also turn water into blood and cause frogs to jump all over everyone. Of course their demonic powers are very limited, even though they could imitate that first two plagues, they couldn't do it on a grand scale and they certainly couldn't stop the plagues given by God! And when they couldn't imitate the third plague even they admitted that it was the 'Finger of God'.

Now it was only after the fourth plague, the plague of flies that Pharaoh agreed that the Israelites can go and worship their God, but he wanted a compromise.

"All right! Go ahead and offer sacrifices to your God," he said. "But do it here in this land. Don't go out into the wilderness." Exodus 8:25

He wanted to compromise, he didn't want them to obey the Lord completely. But Moses wouldn't have it. He had learned that God is not a God of half-measures. God wants total obedience. Half obedience is the same to Him as disobedience. We see it right through the Bible. For example several years later when the Israelites were told to take Jericho, God told them that all the proceeds from Jericho should go to Him. All the silver, gold, bronze and iron was considered sacred to Him and should be brought to His sanctuary. All the Israelites obeyed, except one man, Achan. His greed took hold of him and he took a beautiful robe, two hundred silver coins and a bar of gold for himself. And what happened? God punished all of Israel because of this. God wants 100% obedience!

Another example is where God instructed King Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites. He told Saul to destroy them all, including all their livestock. Saul went into battle and destroyed all of them except:

"Saul and his men spared King Agag's life, and kept the best of the sheep, cattle, the fat calves and lambs - everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality." 1 Samuel 15:9

And what was the outcome when Saul didn't obey God 100%? He lost his kingship, he lost his joy, in fact he lost everything.

Imagine what would have happened if Moses was starting to tire from going back and forth to the Pharaoh the whole time and decided that maybe this compromise was not that bad. They probably would have had their three day feast and would have returned to being slaves and God would never have displayed His wonders for all to see. Or maybe God would have eliminated Moses there and then and chose someone else to continue with His plan for His people. Only God knows, but luckily Moses was 100% obedient.

We must learn a lesson from this. I had to learn it the hard way too, I tried to bend God's arm on certain issues in my life, but He remained firm. And when I look back now, I shudder to think where I would have been had I not been 100% obedient. I think sometimes people find themselves in very difficult situations because they were not fully obedient and then they wonder why this happened to them. But the truth is they didn't listen. Or sometimes people don't achieve what they want to achieve, because they didn't adhere to God's Voice. God demands total obedience of us all and when we are obedient, He will bless us for doing it and lead us onto the right path.

Lord, please forgive us if we are not always fully obedient. Please help us and give us the strength to stand up for You and to obey Your Voice to the last letter. You know best and we want to follow You. Amen 

God started to move on behalf of His people to free them from Egypt with mighty deeds. God attacked every 'god' that the Egyptians had in their lives, for example the 'god' of the sun - Amon-Re, the crafty cow-goddess - Hathor etcetera. The first 'god' to be attacked was the river Nile. They viewed the river as a sacred river. Most of the population lived on the banks of the Nile. It made life possible in a country that was mostly desert by providing water for drinking, farming, bathing and fishing. Without the Nile's water, Egypt could not have existed. They were utterly dependant on it. Can you imagine their dismay when God turned the whole river Nile of 3 000 mile into a mass of blood! It must have been horrific! And not for one day, but for a whole week! Can you imagine the stench drifting through the land with all the fish that died as well? It must have been a sight that they quickly wanted to forget! Their sacred river, was not so sacred after all, but obeyed the Voice of the God of the Hebrews.

It made me wonder, what God would have done if we had a similar 'ten plagues' today? Which of our 'gods' would He have attacked? It seems to me that our main 'gods' today are status, money, recognition, power etcetera. Actually anything that takes a higher priority than God in our lives. It can even be things like spending too much time on social media and not having time to spend with God, or placing a higher value on our families than on God or putting advancement of our careers ahead of doing our work according to God's standards or even watching distasteful movies even though we know it will not carry away God's approval?

I'll ask again, what will God's plagues be today? Will it be a total collapse of the monetary system of the world placing all people on equal terms? Will the angel of death be sent to kill all actors playing in blasphemous films? Will it be the total collapse of all internet and internet related software? We shudder to think about it! What devastation will reign on the earth today if God said enough is enough and sent ten 'modern' plagues?

Maybe a good start will be to look at our own lives and confess the 'gods' that we have in our own personal lives and ask God's forgiveness. Confess God as number one in your lives again. Place Him on the seat in your life where He belongs. He deserves the number one spot in your life! But I know people are afraid to surrender and put Him first. For example I know of a lot of people who don't want to surrender their families to God, because they are afraid that God might take them away from them. Or surrender their jobs, because they are afraid that soon they might find themselves without employment as God decides to test them.

But remember, God is your Father, a tender loving Father and He wants only what is best for you. He will do nothing that will hurt you unnecessarily. He is not like us (thank goodness!), He doesn't want to get even like we do, He truly forgives and forgets. He is just so glad when we choose Him! Don't you think it is time to surrender your 'gods' to Him? It truly is worth it.

We love You Lord, more than we can say! We love You to the depths of our being. Please forgive us if we don't put You first in our lives. We want to; as we know You have our best interests in mind. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Moses was an amazing person, really. He not only continued when all the odds were against him, he listened wholeheartedly to the Lord and followed His instructions to the letter, even when it seemed that everything was going wrong.

But he did make mistakes and he complained quite a bit in the beginning as I have pointed out in previous devotions. But as I am writing this I suddenly realized something. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, including Exodus. He wrote it all. And he included all his moaning and groaning when he started off on his quest. Not only that he wrote how he murdered the Egyptian, he wrote about how his wife Zipporah spoke downgradingly at him, he wrote how God wanted to kill him because he had been disobedient, he later wrote how he couldn't enter the Promised Land because he was disobedient again. He wrote everything, down to the last detail.

Now if I were Moses, I think I maybe would have let those passages slip. I would certainly have written how God appeared to me in the burning bush, but I don't think I would have mentioned all my excuses to get out of the mission ahead. And then I think I would have left out the bit where my wife had to circumcise my sons, because I had given in to her culture and not listened to the Lord. And then I think I would have left out the bit where Pharaoh kicked us out of his palace and how my own people would not even talk to me and how I complained to the Lord. Then I will start again at all the mighty plagues and how they came about. And so I would have gone on.

But not Moses, he spilt the beans, he told everything as it happened, even if it meant putting him in a bad light. All that mattered to him when he wrote these books were God. He didn't want people to remember how great he was, but how great and gracious God was. God deserved all the honor and if people can learn from his mistakes and follow the Lord in a better way, then so be it.

We can once again learn from him. We love to hide our mistakes and our shortcomings, but sometimes it is better to reveal them to others, so that they can learn from them too. If we present this perfect picture to others, you are not conveying the correct message. None of us are perfect; we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. We must make sure that people don't honor us because we look and act so correct on the outside, but that we point them to God and give Him all the glory.

You alone are perfect Lord. You alone deserve all the praise. Please give us the courage to share our life story with others in order to prevent them from making the same mistake. In Jesus Name. Amen

Poor old Moses. He left his home of 40 years to serve God and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And since leaving, his wife was not impressed with him as we saw earlier (incidentally she left Egypt some or other time, because in Exodus 18 his father in law visits Moses in the wilderness after the Exodus, and he brings Moses' wife with him, therefore she must have left him some time before this), Pharaoh made matters worse for the Israelites and to top it off Moses' own people didn't want to listen to him anymore.

Exodus 6:9 "So Moses told the people what the Lord had said, but they wouldn't listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the increasing burden of their slavery."

Moses must have felt all alone. No one was supporting him, only Aaron, but there are no words of encouragement recorded here.

And when God tell Moses to go back to Pharaoh, Moses turned on God again.

Exodus 6:12 "But Lord! My own people won't listen to me anymore. How can I expect Pharaoh to listen? I'm no orator!"

Moses was discouraged and seemingly wanted to give up here. But God stayed calm and ordered Moses to go back to Pharaoh again. And the most amazing thing for me is that Moses went. Despite the gloomy circumstances he was in, he continued to listen and move forward. And you know what? You never hear Moses talk to the Lord like that again. Things started happening. He took the first step in obedience and God used him.

Faith is easy when things are running smoothly. It is easy when things are flowing and miracles are happening all around. But when things get tough and people don't believe in you anymore it starts to get difficult to continue believing. It starts getting hard to continue trusting in God's promises. Moses definitely experienced this, he must have felt all alone, but he kept his head down and pressed forward. He turned to God with his questions and frustrations and God helped him to get through it. He didn't discuss it with several people, but he turned to God and he obtained strength.

Turn to God and keep the faith. Continue step by step and move forward. God will be with you and soon you will see things happening all around. God rewards faithful obedience.

Father God, please help us to keep our eyes on You and what You've planned for us. We get discouraged sometimes, but thank you that we can know that You are always there for us. Thank you! Amen

Moses and Aaron had made their first visit to the Pharaoh and things didn't turn out as they had planned. In fact things got worse, much worse. Pharaoh gave orders to the slave drivers and foremen:

Exodus 5:7-9 "Do not supply the people with any more straw for making bricks. Let them get it themselves! But don't reduce their production quotas by a single brick. They obviously don't have enough to do. If they did, they wouldn't be talking about going into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to their God. Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to these liars!" 

The poor Israelites scurried all over the area and tried to find straw to still complete their quota, but to no avail. It was impossible. They were treated harshly and their situation deteriorated at a rapid pace! They were worse off than before. They tried to complain to Pharaoh, but this made him even angrier. They were desperate and in their frustration, they turned on Moses and proclaimed God's judgment on him.

Poor Moses. He was only trying to do what God had instructed him to do, and now Pharaoh and his own people were against him. And the only One he could turn to was God.

Exodus 5:22, 23 "Why have You mistreated Your own people like this, Lord? Why did You send me? Since I gave Pharaoh your message, he has been even more brutal to Your people. You have not even begun to rescue them!"

Obviously Moses didn't know God's plan. Moses definitely expected faster results and fewer problems. He didn't know that there will be 10 plagues; he didn't know that God will open the Red Sea for them; he didn't know that God will bring Egypt to their knees, he didn't know all that. All he could see at this moment was failure. He did what God asked of him and it resulted in failure. Full stop. And God knew this too. He didn't reprimand Moses for talking to Him like this, no, He understood Moses' heart. What wonderful grace! All He did was tell Moses again, that He certainly will deliver them.

I think we can learn from this. When embarking on a journey with God we expect it to be easy, and that all things will go our way, we expect favor wherever we go and we expect blessings to start flowing immediately, but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes God allows things to develop our character, to test our faith, to grow patience in our hearts, or to portray His power in our lives, we don't know, but one thing is certain, we mustn't give up. Don't ever give up on the road that God has laid on your heart. It might be hard now, but the glory lies ahead, just push on a little more. I will end off with a comment in my bible that sums it up beautifully:

Problems develop our character and patience by teaching us to:

1. Trust God to do what is best for us.
2. Look for ways to honor God in our present situation.
3. Remember that God will not abandon us and
4. Watch for God's plan for us.

Father God, please help us through the times when things look bleak and unpromising. Help us to still go on with Your plan for us. Give us strength to go forward, step by step. In Jesus Name. Amen