10-31-14. Exodus 8:20-32. THE DISTINCTION LEADS US TO CHRIST-my devotional

Exodus 8:20-32                                                                                           Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 8:22                                                                                           10-31-14

“But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land.” (NIV)

Dear Lord Jesus…thank you for filling our hearts with hope and excitement for the future. It is all because we trust in and rely on your love, and your power. There is nothing too hard for you, oh Lord. You even conquered death through the resurrection. When we look to Jesus, the pathway becomes clear. Your vision for our lives proves to be the best. You open doors and clear the way. You give us strength to walk in your light. This world, at first, appears to be oppressive at every turn. But in you, Lord, it is a world of possibilities that are coming to fruition. Thank you for the fullness of life you bring. Please fill my heart with hope and expectation through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

 Part 1: Flies Everywhere But In Goshen (8:20-32)

Verses 20-24 reads, “20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them. 22 “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’” 24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.”

God leads us to the best times to share his word…though we may think the chosen time is sort of “weird”. In Exodus 8, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron on another mission. Look at Exodus 8:20, “20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” (NIV) They needed to go to the Nile river and call Pharaoh to repentance. Going to the river in the morning, meant that the Pharaoh was probably going to clean himself and/or go to the bathroom. It seems like the last place one would go to confront a Sovereign Ruler with the word of God. It is like following the President into the bathroom and speaking to him across the bathroom stall wall, or just before he enters into the shower. Couldn’t there be a better time to do the will of God? The point is God knows the best place and the best time to do his will and preach his word. We may have our own ideas about what is the best time to do the will of God. But God knows best. We need to simply submit to God’s leading and speak the message that he wants us to speak at the time he wants us to speak it. I have been praying to minister to my kids. I thought this meant structured, Bible study at set times. But they were not ready for that. I didn’t want to wait on God’s time and so I pushed my own agenda. But when I tried to be sensitive to God’s leading God showed me the best time to share the word of God. One of my kids asked me a very deep and sincere question about faith. It was a God given moment and it was better than ten scheduled Bible studies. I pray to be able to enter through the door of opportunity to share the Gospel as God opens it, even if I think the setting is kind of weird.

Let’s think about the word of God to the Pharaoh. Look at verses 20b-21, “‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.” (NIV) God wanted Pharaoh, Egypt and Israel to know that the plagues were not just unfortunate natural disasters; they were God’s hand of judgment on Egypt. He made this clear when he sent swarms of flies to plague Egypt, but protected his people. Egypt was ruined; God made a distinction between his people and the Egyptians, and he continued to do so. (8:22-23; 9:4,26; 10:23) This was God’s protection of his people. Pharaoh refused to repent and so his nation, Egypt was ruined by the flies.

There are consequences for not repenting and submitting to God. God is very gracious and merciful. But there will be a time when there will be consequences for willful rejection of God’s grace and truth. Roman 2:5-12 states, “5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”  7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.” (NIV)

Living outside is God’s grace, truth and will brings all kinds of consequences in life. There is added stress, broken relationships, pessimism, despair, anger, fruitlessness, lack of satisfaction for the simple things in life. Some people live amidst self made violence and dangers that give them no rest, nor peace. These are consequences of living outside of Jesus while we live in this world. There is also a time of judgment after we die. This is basically the results of turning our hearts against the Lord God Almighty.

In Exodus 8, God makes a distinction between those who are in him and those who are not in him. He does that so that people may come to him for salvation. Look at Exodus 8:22-23, ““‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”  (NIV) God blesses his people so much, not because of anything we have done. It is because of God’s grace.  He wants the world to know that he is the God of all blessing. He wants people to know that in him there is life to the full. He wants people to know where to go to be saved. I remember this was an important factor in my initial repentance in 1986. God was working in my heart. He was leading me to himself. But there were people telling me not to trust Christians and not to study the Bible. My heart and mind were in turmoil as Christ was leading me out of the world. I could not deny that Christians in my life were the truest people who I knew. The presence of God’s people in my life was one of the best things that was going on around me. Seeing the difference between believers and non believers helped me to trust Jesus and to submit my heart to him. Thank God for working through his people he strategically placed around us. We need to live by faith, allowing God to make our lives different from the world. Then God will work through us to let the world know that they can trust Jesus and the Gospel.

Part 2: Repent To Please the Lord and Not Just To Get Relief (25-32)

Verses 25-32, “25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.” 26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.” 28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.” 29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” 30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.”

In regards to stoning to death, things have not changed much since Moses’ time in 1400 BC. Look at verses Exodus 8: 25-26, ““25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.” 26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?” (NIV) Apparently, if a people group did not practice the popular religion of the region, and they insisted on practicing their own religion, they were stoned to death. That is intolerance to the extreme. This ancient practice is what is still happening today. There is so much religious intolerance in a certain area of the world. People are being stoned on a regular basis, even if they are practicing the region’s religion. Yes, Christians do have their intolerance issues. But we are not going around stoning people to death like they are in other areas dominated by another religion. I pray for freedom of thought, religious expression and freedom of speech in all regions of this globe and for us to practice tolerance. As Christians we are to attract people to Jesus, because of the beauty of Christian faith and practice and the depth of it’s truth. We are to love people into the kingdom and not stone them death for not complying. Actually, reverting to stoning, is an admission that a person’s religion is failing to attract people out of willing hearts. It is a desperate attempt to keep members. This has got to change. All religions should stand up and compete with love and truth and hope and not brute force and threats. As a Christian, I believe Jesus and the Gospel will win, hands down.

Pharaoh knew that he was defeated and sought to compromise with Moses. Read 8:25. “Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.” Moses said, “No. We must leave Egypt.” And in verse 28, “Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”  Pharaoh seems to acquiesce to the demands of Moses. He seems to have learned his lesson and repented of his stubborn refusal to let God’s people go. So Moses prayed, and the flies left.

But Pharaoh was not sincere. When things got better he reneged on his promise and would not let the people go. This is a great picture of humanity. When people are in a crunch, they may promise many things to be set free from their suffering. They are looking for a way out…a little relief from their suffering. But when their suffering has abated, they go back to their old ways and forget the redemption that God has brought into their lives. I saw a cartoon once, where the price of gas was going up. There was a typical consumer changing his driving habits with every heightening of the gas prices. When the gas prices went up, he switched to a compact car and then to a scooter. But when the gas prices fell, to under $300 per gallon, the consumer threw his hands in the air and stated, “Oh, forget it.” and went back to driving his huge SUV. We are fickle like that. We are changeable and repent only when it brings some relief to our suffering.

But Christians should be people of truth…repenting and submitting to God simply because it is the right thing to do. We repent because we seek to please the Lord. And we don’t go back on our repentance because our suffering has abated for the time being. We stay the course and continue to seek Jesus and God’s kingdom. I pray to have this type of steadfast faith in Jesus. I pray not to be a fickle, unchangeable person, but a steadfast man of faith, who stands on the steadfast Rock of the Universe, Jesus Christ.

When we repent because we want to please the Lord, then the difference will become manifest in our lives. Jesus will be truly glorified in us. People will see the difference that Jesus brings and by the grace of God, the Gospel will be advertised in our lives and families. Jesus’ light will shine in the darkness.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you Lord, for blessing those who are found in you through faith in Christ. May your presence in our lives show the world that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. ”

One word: Remain in Christ for the glory of God.