Good morning and welcome to the 5MC, a daily study of God's Word to enoucarge personal growth in the Lord. Today is Taco Tuesday, happy Taco Tuesday. It’s also only 3 days until the opening of the great State Fair of Texas. Happy State Fair week. As you may know I am a huge State Fair fan and it has always been a tradition for Marge and I to go on opening weekend. In the last few years, the tradition has shifted to include both of our dads. So, this Friday, the four of us will trek over to Fair Park and seek out our first Fletcher’s Corny Dogs of 2019. Good times on the horizon.
Speaking of good times, it’s not what Pharaoh will be having as we see the plagues of Egypt start today. By now God has instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh several times to let the Israelites go, but to no avail, Pharaoh is not even close to consenting. So today we will see God bring on the first plague. This whole process reminds me of the knob on a stove, you know the little knob that goes from 1 to 10. One is a little hot and 10 is red hot and will get your water boiling super quick. At out last house we had some fancy cook top and it would go from 1-10 almost immediately and you could boil water in a blink, pretty cool stuff. But what you’ll see in the plagues is just like a cooktop, God dialing up the heat with every plague as Pharaoh continues to squirm under the heat.
There’s something very important you need to understand regarding the plagues though, this was not a personal battle between God and Pharaoh as most think. Of course, Pharaoh was the key to actually letting the Israelites go, but God was battling something completely different. You see, the Egyptians were far from practicing monotheism which is the worship of one supreme true God. They practiced polytheism, the worship of not one God but many. And boy did they have the gods. Some scholars estimate that ancient Egypt had more than 2000 different gods. Some of these deities' names are well known: Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor, Bastet, Thoth, Anubis, and Ptah. The Egyptians believed that there was one central god but that he could not be bothered with the day to day minutia of running the world, so he delegated it all to the other “smaller” gods. In this line of logic there was a god for everything. For water, for sun, for each animal, for fertility, for grain, for rain, for wind, for storms and on and on. Now think about what God Almighty thought about this. He is not fond at all of the people of Egypt worshipping everything under the sun but him. (think 1st commandment) But listen to how he expounds upon this a few chapters later in Exodus 20:5:
“You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.”
So, what we’ll see is that every single plague is an attack against a specific false Egyptian God. God is showing the Egyptians, the Israelites and even us today, that He is the almighty God and he will defeat all false Gods. Today we see Moses, by the power of God, turn the water of the Nile river into blood. The Nile was considered the “lifeblood” of Egypt but in this plague it would bring death not life as it was literally and physically turned to blood. The fish die, it becomes stagnant and as result the stench is nauseating. The God of the Nile, Osiris, was one of the most powerful of the Egyptian gods, and God mocks him openly with this plague. Here’s some detail on Osiris.
“The fertility of the land of Egypt depended upon the annual overflow of the Nile river to bring both fertilizer and water. Therefore, this river was sacred to the god, Osiris – whose all seeing eye is found on many Egyptian paintings. Pagan rites were held every spring when the river brought life out of death. When the water was turned to blood however, it brought death instead of life.” (McGee, TTB, 216)
So, we see now that the plagues brought by God upon Egypt are a battle of God upon the many false gods of Egypt. He will attack and defeat 10 different false gods in front of Egypt, the Pharaoh and the Israelites. A mighty show that God Almighty is the one true God above all.
What strikes me as a little funny this morning is Exodus 7:7:
“And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.”
Now think about this. Moses lived the first 40 years as a prince in Egypt after he was rescued from his sailing basket upon the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter. Then he committed murder and fled for his life at 40. He lived the next 40 years in exile in the desert. Now here he is at 80 years young beginning his ministry. Kind of a late start by today’s standards don’t you think? And I would expect you to say yes (I would) but folks, there is quite the lesson in this passage about your personal service to the Lord. You’re not done until God says your done, and you haven’t started until God says you start.
For the last 9 months or so I have been extremely blessed to be teaching a Sunday School class on Sunday mornings at Southcliff. The class is called the Early Birds because they like to meet at 8am on Sundays. Most would call this class a senior adult group, some would call it a senior, senior adult group. The average ages range from 75 to 92. But folks let me tell you something. It is usually one of the bigger groups on a Sunday morning. These folks love the Lord. They show up excited, full of smiles, and still love to learn about God, His Word and His plan for their lives. You see even at 80, we can begin new things for God, just like Moses.
If you find yourself today feeling a little long in the tooth, a little run down, a little tired, groaning in this old body, know one thing. Not only is God not done with you, but if your like Moses, God hasn’t even started with you yet! Now more than likely God will not call you to save an entire people group at 80, but rest assured, there is still much kingdom work to do, and someone that is a senior adult can still do amazing things for God…and should.
I encourage you today, no matter your age or physical condition to pray this prayer:
“Heavenly Father, you are an amazing God and you have plans to use me in amazing ways. I ask that you claim my thinking and make it as yours. That I see my world differently, see it as you see it and see the needs which you have within it. That regardless of what the world may tell me, I am fully worthy of serving you and impacting your Kingdom. Empower me with your limitless power and strength to serve you through serving others. Dear Lord, you have a specific task just for me, a ministry that will make a difference and bring you glory. Please show me this ministry and let it not be put off another day, but let me start it even today. God, if you can start Moses at 80, you can and will surely start me today! Amen.”
I pray that however old you may be today that you will choose to serve God. You are never too old to make a difference for the mighty Kingdom of God.
God bless you all in your journey to serve the King of Kings today.
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