Exodus 8-10

January 20

Exodus 8-10

Pharaoh is a classic example of trying to bargain with God. The more he resisted the hand of God the worse things got for him and his nation. It is funny that Aaron caused the frogs to overtake the land, and Pharaoh’s magicians copied his act so they got a double dose of frogs. The frogs drove Pharaoh to ask Moses to pray for the Lord to remove the frogs. Once Pharaoh got relief from the frogs he turned back to his old ways and refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.

Then came the gnats, then flies. Pharaoh again agreed to let the people go, after some attempts at bargaining the stipulations. But after the burden of the flies was gone, he changed his mind. Time after time, God sent plagues over Egypt. Time after time Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go if Moses would pray and ask God to remove the plague.

It is easy to make Pharaoh the bad guy in these passages. It is easy to say how stupid could he be to try to fight God. How hard headed as well as hard hearted could Pharaoh be to continue to renege on his promise to let the Israelites go only to face a worse plague? But then we look at ourselves.

God if you will get me out of this problem, I will serve you. I will go to church. I will work at a soup kitchen. I will do this. I will do that. God if you get me through this issue, I will stop _________. Have you ever bargained with God? When we are in the midst of the problem, we are willing to do whatever it takes to remove the problem. Then relief comes.

After the burden is lifted, we forget about our promises. Or maybe we don’t forget about them, we just decide we were being a little extreme and we have no intention of following through. Sometimes God brings us burdens to bring us closer to Him. Sometimes He uses them to help us let go of the things we need to let go of. Sometimes he brings them so we will change our focus in life. How often are we like Pharaoh?