READINGS FOR JUNE 21, 2024: EXODUS 8, EPHESIANS 5, PSALM 56:8-13 EXODUS 8 God told Moses to ask Pharoah to allow the Hebrews to leave and worship God. He told Moses to tell Pharoah exactly what would happen if Pharaoh refused: they would be overrun by frogs. Despite knowing this was a word from the Lord and despite knowing exactly what would happen, Pharoah still refused. This is exactly what happens today. In 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Eph. 5:3-5, Rom. 1:26-31, and Gal. 5:19-21 God tells us what behaviors to avoid and exactly what will happen if we don’t obey Him: failure to inherent eternal life. Yet, many of us either continue to behave this way or approve when others do. As with Pharaoh, this is illogical. Why does this happen? Perhaps we’re unfamiliar with the Bible or believe the Bible no longer is relevant in 2024 America. Notice what will happen to Pharoah? Perhaps we can learn better.
After the frogs invaded the land, Pharoah’s magicians performed to the same sign. They were good at making things worse but could not fix the problem. So, Pharoah gave Moses permission to worship. When Moses asked Pharoah when he would like the frogs destroyed, Pharoah curiously said, “Tomorrow.” A past president of Taylor University once preached a sermon he called “Sleeping with the Frogs.” He wondered why we sometimes put up with the effects of sin longer than necessary. Unfortunately for the Egyptians, when the frogs were gone, Pharoah hardened his own heart and relented on his agreement with Moses.
The next plague from God was gnats. This time God directed Aaron to strike the dust rather than just extend his hand. (This precise obedience is important as Moses will later learn when he struck the rock rather than speak to it.) This time Pharoah’s team could not duplicate the trick and acknowledged that God was in charge (a necessary but not sufficient step toward faith). This time Pharoah, though, did not even listen to his priests. The next plague of flies struck the Egyptians but not the Hebrews’ residence in Goshen. The text also emphasized the flies heavily infested the palace.
Now Pharoah seems quick to make a deal but said the sacrifices had to take place within the country. Moses, being in a negotiating position of strength, insisted the people had to leave the land for three days. Pharoah, bothered by these flies, agreed. Moses, by now suspicious that Pharoah might take back his permission, warned him not to do so again. The prophets, the apostles, and Jesus Himself have repeatedly warned us against disobeying God. Do we understand that this is for our own good or do we reject these warnings, believing a God of love would never act on them? If we don’t listen to them, we become one with Pharoah.
READINGS FOR JUNE 21, 2024 CONTINUED: EPHESIANS 5, PSALM 56:8-13 EPHESIANS 5 Paul tells us we should imitate God (vs.1). Seen the latest royal portraits of King Charles and Princess Kate? Like a great artist, we need to carefully study our subject, God, in all His ways in order to be a faithful likeness. Paul tells us especially to look at Jesus and how He gave Himself for us. One essential characteristic of Christ is His Holiness (vs.3-4). We should have nothing to do with sexual immorality (as the Bible defines it--not our culture), greed, or foolish talk (hmm). If we enjoy these activities on earth, it costs us eternal life later (vs .5).
Then Paul tells us to be alert to deception (vs.6). Being gullible is not being Christlike. Find out from God’s word, not social media, what pleases God and do it. Expose suspicious beliefs and actions to the light. “Your [God’s] word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Paul says we have a limited amount of time to form this likeness; so, learn and do God’s will:
- Don’t get drunk but be filled with the Spirit (contrasting states of altered consciousness).
- Sing and speak to each other in godly poetry and to God in our hearts.
- Always, always, give thanks to God in Jesus’s name. Is this how we spend our time?
- We are wasting time if we don’t do all this and most of us have little time left to waste.
Finally, Paul tells us we most nearly imitate Christ when we are mutually subject to each other. (“the head of Christ is [Father] God” --1 Cor. 11:3). This is a particularly hard command for individualistic Americans with our revolutionary and enlightenment-influenced beginnings. The way we obey this command is based upon the position in which God has placed us:
- “Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church” (vs. 22-23).
- “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (vs.25). -
- Paul seemed aware the above points might be dismissed as culturally bound, so he tied them to the creational order that Jesus affirmed in Matt. 19 and the church Jesus established forever in Matt. 16.
PSALM 56:8-13 David uses two great metaphors for God’s interest in us: He saves our tears in a bottle, and He puts them in a book. The point is that God values our painful expressions and won’t forget about them. Rev. 20:15 says believers’ names are written in the Book of Life. Rev. 8:3-4 says our prayers are at the throne of God. We and our prayers will never be overlooked by our God. In Psalm 56:10, David says he praises God’s word and then he says right away again, he praises God’s word. Have we found praiseworthy value in God’s word as we have been studying it? If so, praise God for His word and obey it. David associates this praise with giving him courage in tough times. In verse 11 David foreshadows Paul’s confidence, which can be ours, too: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32). David is so sure of his deliverance that he is already planning his thanksgiving offering to God (vs. 12). That’s confidence in God.
