1-6-15. Exodus 12:29-30. Get On Board With What God Is Doing- my devotional
Get On Board With What God Is Doing
Exodus 12:29-30 Kevin E. Jesmer 1-6-15
God was not joking. He wanted his people to be set free and it happened despite to the stubbornness of the ancient Egyptians in 1400 BC. Look at Exodus 12: 29-30, “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 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.” (NIV)
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt. Only those households protected by the blood of the Passover lamb were spared. God struck the very heart of Pharaoh when the Pharaoh’s own son died. He was filled with grief. His hardened heart gave way and he let Israel go.
Some people may try to blame God for the huge numbers of dead. But it was not God’s fault. It was because of the stubborn hearts of the people who were causing the suffering. Yes, thousands of Egyptians died. But tens of thousands of ancient Israelites were dying because of cruel slavery that was being imposed on them by the Egyptians. In the 2014 movie, “Exodus” there was piles of bodies burning in the slave shanty towns. I don’t think that this was far from the truth.
Looking at things from a spiritual perspective, it was Satan, working through people, to impose such suffering on the Israelites over 400 years of slavery, so as to try to eliminate them as a nation. Satan was ultimately trying to stop Jesus, the Messiah, from coming into this world, through the Jewish people. But he couldn’t stop the work of God from happening. Jehovah is God and his plans can not be thwarted. Jesus is coming again and all believers will see the face of God in the eternal Kingdom of God. Until then Jesus will be with us on our pilgrimage through this life.
I guess a take home point is, that it is fruitless and pointless and even painful to resist the will of God and to fight against his will. In the Bible this is called kicking against the goads. This has to do with horses pulling a wagon. Horses may kick and kick and try to escape their mission to pull the wagon, but there are goads that make their struggles useless. It makes their kicks useless and a waste of energy.
The Psalmist also talks about futility of the nations raging in vain against the holy one of Israel. Psalm 2:1-12 reads,
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
And so, instead of raging in vain against Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the holy One of Israel, we need to get on board with what God is doing. We need to be in tune with what God is trying to accomplish and support that. It means being in step with the Spirit of God. It is fruitless, destructive and even painful to resist work of God, as Pharaoh and his people found out in 1400 BC.
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