The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/exodus/8.htm

The first plague, was the water turning to blood,killing the fish,, taking away drinking water, and the stench from the dead fish and blood in the water. But because Pharaohs magicians could mimic what Aaron had done, Pharaoh wasn’t convinced.

In Exodus Chapter 8, the second plague is brought down on Egypt. As commanded by the Lord, Aaron and Moses went to Pharaoh, Aaron held his rod out over the waters, and frogs came up and infested the Egyptians. In fact,, the Bible said the frogs came into Pharaoh’s house, the Egyptians’ house, the servant’s houses, and not only in their houses, but in their beds and on their bodies.

I certainly can imagine this because I’ve read the Bible, in fact if it were to happen today, my first thought would be that this is Biblical, but there was no Bible in those days. What would you think if everything, even your person, was infested with frogs?

Now Pharaoh’s magicians could do the same thing Aaron did, but slowly but surely it was working on Pharaoh. I dare say he was starting to believe. Now he certainly wasn’t converted, but he was starting to believe in the God of Abraham, because he finally asked Moses to rid him of the frogs, and Moses prayed to God, and God answered his prayer. So all of the frogs that had came out of the waters died, and the Bible said they had to heap them up in piles, and the land stunk (stank?) again because of the death.

But God “hardened” Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let the people of Israel go. And there is a scripture that eludes to why this is going on. Not only does God want His people free, but He is also wanted to make Pharaoh believe.

Remember, the ruler of Egypt during Joseph’s day knew the Lord, the Bible even saying that Pharaoh knew “the Lord” was with Joseph. But now enough time has past that this Pharaoh had no idea who the Lord is, and God is about to show him.

So God sent the 3rd Plague, and after striking the ground with his rod, as God had instructed, the dust turned to lice, and man and beast were both covered in lice. And this time, Pharaoh’s magicians could not work the same wonder. But still, Pharaoh refused to lead the Israelites go.

The 4th Plague came, this time flies. Flies were every where so finally Pharaoh relented and said that if Moses and Aaron would take away the flies, he would at least let the people of Israel go into the wilderness, three days journey for them, to worship God.

So God took away the flies, but he also hardened Pharoad’s heart, and once the flies were gong Pharaoh backed out of the deal and would not let the slaves go.

And we will read in the coming chapters of the Book of Exodus, more plagues will come.

How do these events apply to us today? What message is God trying to tell us?

The first lesson I get is that Pharaoh is a non-believer, so he does not believe that God exists. And because of his disbelief, how is life going for him?

And here’s another thing. God is loving. God is love. God does not harm anyone. And God gives us free will to make our own choices, good or bad. This whole time, from creation, is a fight between God and the serpent, the devil, Satan, and Satan does everything in his power to draw us away from God. He sends temptations, knowing that our relation with God is not strong enough, and we give in to sin.

If God were to rule with an iron fist, how would we look at him? Would we look at him as a loving Creator and Father? Or would we think of him as a tyrant? Lucifer, Satan, was trying to convince the angels that God was no good, and God had the ability to take Satan’s life right then and there, and if He did, it might just prove Satan’s point. So if God does take care of evil, people will look at God in a different light, a bad light. And that is why He gives us freewill, the will to reject Satan ourselves.

Surely Pharaoh saw the miracle of the frogs overtaking everything. At Creation, God said man would have “dominion” over all of the animals, but now, the animals are having dominion over man. And Pharaoh was a wise man, he had to be thinking, “Moses and Aaron are not magicians, sure these acts are of a Divine nature.

And I believe that when God said He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart, it didn’t literally mean that, I believe that the Holy Spirit had been working within Pharaoh, and all God did was to remove the Holy Spirit, giving Pharaoh free will to make his choices, and he chose evil.

Remember, God didn’t do anything bad to Job, He simply removed the “hedge of protection” and let Satan go after Job, all to prove a point that Job would remain faithful to the Lord, despite the bad luck that had fallen on Job.

How many times today do people reject God. It even causes me to sin, because when I hear non-believers talk about “the imaginary sky daddy”, or the “fairy tale” of the Bible, I instantly get incensed, and I shouldn’t. That is Satan tempting me to be a bad person, to have anger. And I have to stop and think, did Jesus get angry with non-believers? He didn’t, because Jesus is love too. and Jesus can get angry, but he gets angry at sin, not at the sinner. So it takes every fiber of my being to not get angry, but rather to pray for the non-believers.

The Pharaoh of Egypt some 4,000 years ago is no different than we are today. We can believe in God, remain faithful to God, confess and repent of our sins, and God will put a “hedge of protection” around us from frogs, and lice, and flies, and earthquakes, and tornadoes, and fire, and flood, or we can choose to reject Him, give in to the words of Satan, just as Eve did, but we have to be prepared to face the consequences of our “free will”.

Father, just like Pharaoh, our hearts are hardened. We acknowledge that this is a battle of Satan trying to draw us away from You, the same as he drew Adam and Eve away from you. Please keep a hedge of protection around us. Give us the strength to resist the temptations of Satan, fill us with Your Spirit, and soften our hearts. In Jesus sweet name we pray. Amen.