"And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings."
Exodus 10:21-23
This is one of the things that Moses brings upon Egypt when he is in negotiations with Pharaoh to let Israel go. After the locusts, and before the death of the firstborn. In this story I think we are often struck at just how hard-headed Pharaoh is... he sees miracle after miracle, even ones that are absolutely devastating to his country, and although he reacts in asking Moses to turn it away, and Moses does every time, he still doesn't relent.
Now, I am sure that Pharaoh was justifiably worried about how his lifestyle was going to change and how his large building projects were going to get done if he lost this source of cheap labor. But when faced with such huge and obvious evidences of God's disapproval... especially the fact that the Egyptians suffered while the Israelites did not... it seems pretty short-sighted.
Do we act like Pharaoh in our own lives? When we experience miraculous things and evidences of God, do we dismiss them as coincidence, or forget them once they are past? Do we look to God when the darkness comes, and pray for it to pass, and then when it does, go back to the same old thing, figuring that we must have been blowing it out of proportion to be so worried? I know that I have done this in the past... been just as hard-hearted as Pharaoh.
Today, let's look to God. Let's ask him to help us escape from that tangible darkness that we all experience at one time or another in our lives, though often in a more symbolic way than in this story. :) And afterward, let's remember why we have light in our lives, and never forget the Lord.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings."
Exodus 10:21-23
This is one of the things that Moses brings upon Egypt when he is in negotiations with Pharaoh to let Israel go. After the locusts, and before the death of the firstborn. In this story I think we are often struck at just how hard-headed Pharaoh is... he sees miracle after miracle, even ones that are absolutely devastating to his country, and although he reacts in asking Moses to turn it away, and Moses does every time, he still doesn't relent.
Now, I am sure that Pharaoh was justifiably worried about how his lifestyle was going to change and how his large building projects were going to get done if he lost this source of cheap labor. But when faced with such huge and obvious evidences of God's disapproval... especially the fact that the Egyptians suffered while the Israelites did not... it seems pretty short-sighted.
Do we act like Pharaoh in our own lives? When we experience miraculous things and evidences of God, do we dismiss them as coincidence, or forget them once they are past? Do we look to God when the darkness comes, and pray for it to pass, and then when it does, go back to the same old thing, figuring that we must have been blowing it out of proportion to be so worried? I know that I have done this in the past... been just as hard-hearted as Pharaoh.
Today, let's look to God. Let's ask him to help us escape from that tangible darkness that we all experience at one time or another in our lives, though often in a more symbolic way than in this story. :) And afterward, let's remember why we have light in our lives, and never forget the Lord.
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