{"id":19319,"date":"2021-12-22T22:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T05:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-9_27-35-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-12-18T00:18:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T07:18:08","slug":"exodus-10_1-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-10_1-20\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m Not Negotiating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exodus 10:1-20\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 10:1-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 10:1-2 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the\u00a0LORD.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0In previous chapters of Exodus we learned that the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart was not simply God\u2019s doing, but Pharaoh\u2019s choice as well (see Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:34).\u00a0\u00a0Yet despite Pharaoh choosing to harden his heart toward God, God would use this unfortunate incident as an opportunity to perform His miracles so that the Israelites would have a greater story to tell, \u201cthat you may know that I am the Lord\u201d (v2).\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Because God is sovereign (possessing supreme authority), God will use even our mistakes and the mistakes of others to write a greater story.\u00a0\u00a0Of course we are always better off obeying God early and with a soft heart, but God being sovereign will find a way to show His power one way or the other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exodus 10:3-11 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the\u00a0LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians–something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.'” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God,” he said. “But just who will be going?”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moses answered, “We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the\u00a0LORD.”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pharaoh said, “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0be with you–if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0No! Have only the men go; and worship the\u00a0LORD, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-11:\u00a0\u00a0Moses and Aaron warn Pharaoh about the upcoming plague of locusts.\u00a0\u00a0Pharaoh decides to have a break out session with his officials, who try to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so that what\u2019s left of Egypt can be salvaged (v7).\u00a0\u00a0Pharaoh decides to negotiate with Moses, Aaron and the Lord, proposing that only the men go but the women and children stay.\u00a0\u00a0However, the Lord and His representatives do not budge.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t try to negotiate with God.\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ll never win that way.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s because we are not at God\u2019s level, not even close.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0You will always be much better off humbling yourself before God and surrendering to His will than trying to jockey with God for position and power.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exodus 10:12-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts will swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail–everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God and against you.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the\u00a0LORD.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-20:\u00a0\u00a0Like a broken record, Pharaoh does it again, first confessing his sin and promising to let the Israelites go, and then going back on that promise the moment there is relief from the plague.\u00a0\u00a0God has been tremendously patient with Pharaoh, and He is tremendously patient with you and me too, but He will not wait forever.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s turn to Him before it\u2019s too late and while we still have time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, there is no use trying to bargain with You or play games with You, because You are on a completely different level than me.\u00a0\u00a0Please give me courage to obey You today.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for Your patience with me and also for using even my mistakes to write a greater story than I could write.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 10:1-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 10:1-2 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them
\n2\u00a0\u00a0that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the\u00a0LORD.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0In previous chapters of Exodus we learned that the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart was not simply God\u2019s doing, but Pharaoh\u2019s choice as well (see Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:34).\u00a0\u00a0Yet despite Pharaoh choosing to harden his heart toward God, God would use this unfortunate incident as an opportunity to perform His miracles so that the Israelites would have a greater story to tell, \u201cthat you may know that I am the Lord\u201d (v2).\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Because God is sovereign (possessing supreme authority), God will use even our mistakes and the mistakes of others to write a greater story.\u00a0\u00a0Of course we are always better off obeying God early and with a soft heart, but God being sovereign will find a way to show His power one way or the other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19319"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19320,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19319\/revisions\/19320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}