Who's In Charge?

From Our Tuesday Morning Bible Study:

Pharaoh in ancient Egypt was thought to be a god. He ruled with absolute power and authority over the mightiest, most prosperous, and most advanced nation of his day. He reigned above all, having no rivals or peers. He thought he had all power...that is, until he was confronted by the One who truly did have all power. Then, he was shown to be the pretender that all men are.

Moses confronted Pharaoh with God's order for him to release the Israelites from bondage. When Pharaoh refused, God brought ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. These plagues came in three sets of three with a final devastating plague. The first set of plagues (blood, frogs, and gnats) were nuisance plagues. They were greatly annoying and inconvenient but not particularly destructive. God was granting Pharaoh the opportunity to repent without having his nation destroyed. Despite the plagues, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he refused to let the people of Israel go.

The second set of plagues were of a destructive variety (flies, death of livestock, and boils). They added personal pain and financial loss to the inconvenience of the first set of plagues. God was raising the level of discomfort for Pharaoh, granting him the opportunity to obey God without a great loss of human life. Pharaoh, however, remained obstinate. He would not submit to the commands of God to release the slaves.

The final set of plagues (hail, locusts, and darkness) threatened the lives of the Egyptians. The hail killed those left out in the open. Locusts ate all of the green plants in Egypt, affecting the food supply, while darkness represented death itself. Still, even in the face of this overwhelming power, Pharaoh refused to listen to God and release his slaves. He would yet receive one final, horrifying plague that would shake the nation so much that he would release the Israelite slaves from their bondage.

Pharaoh could have saved himself and his nation a lot of devastation if he had simply obeyed God and recognized Him as the sole ruler. Pharaoh was not prepared to do that. He was not ready to admit his need to submit to any God other than himself.

Pharaoh, as the leader of Egypt, was no different than the public leaders that we see today. When was the last time you heard any of them speak of repentance or of the need to humble ourselves before God? I know of none who would have the boldness of Abraham Lincoln in 1863 when he wrote that we "were too proud to pray to the God who made us." (See handout) The United States is in the place of Egypt in the ancient world. We are the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world. In spite of those blessings, we have abandoned God. We feel we are self-sufficient. We no longer recognize that our bounty comes from the generous hand of the Mighty One.

God's power is undiminished, however. If He can bring judgment upon Egypt and Pharaoh, He can bring it upon us. As a nation, we are neither more capable, more intelligent, nor more moral than Egypt. We are just as vulnerable to God's power. Let us pray that our people and our leaders will recognize their need for God before He causes America's blessedness to dissolve into nothingness. May we, as a nation, recognize who is truly in charge.

Tony

Audio and Handout from Tuesday's Study
The Power of Plagues, Part 2
Handout