When God Whispers

Another plague! This one is possibly more disgusting than the last. How can you breathe air that is filled with gnats? Even the magicians try to tell Pharaoh that this plague is the finger of God. Yet he refuses to listen, and his nation suffers through this plague. This behavior reminds me how my behavior can have an impact on others around me. Ask God to keep you mindful of your actions so that...

Oh, boy. This certainly sounds familiar to me. He asks Moses to intervene with God on his behalf. Moses does. God rids the land of the frogs. Pharaoh responds with a hardened heart. How many times have I attempted to bargain with God? “God, please get me out of this situation and I promise I will never do this again.” I have prayed those words. Now that I am older and in closer relationship with G...

I cannot even imagine how it would be to have a houseful of frogs. The scripture says the frogs covered the land of Egypt and yet Pharaoh did not change his behavior. The plague that enveloped the land of Egypt appeared in the form of frogs but the true plague was the heart condition of Pharaoh. Do you have a loved one or friend that is suffering because of the condition of their heart? Are they u...

I love how God totally prepares Moses for what is about to unfold. Moses, who tried so hard to convince God that he wasn’t the man for the job, probably gained encouragement from the preparation God gave him. God does the same for us daily. What is God preparing you for today? Keep your spiritual eyes and ears open. He will use you in a mighty way, just as He used Moses. What a mighty God we serve...

Yet again, Moses and Aaron are instructed by God to go to Pharaoh even though God told them that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened. God knew that the miracles performed by Aaron would not change this man’s heart. It is so easy for us as humans to live with a hardened heart. I know. I spent five years or so with a very hard heart toward a family member. I remember praying faithfully that God would...

Once again we see God encouraging Moses as He tells him exactly what to do as he and Aaron approach Pharaoh.  He warns Moses that Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened and he will not listen.  God tells Moses that He will increase his powers of destruction on Egypt and that His people, the children of Israel, will be brought out of Egypt.  Moses, 80 years old, and Aaron, 83 years old did as God had com...

This passage shares the names of the tribes of Israel and concludes with God speaking once again to Moses telling him to approach Pharaoh with God’s words.  Moses feels unworthy and unclean stating he is uncircumcised and doubting that Pharaoh will listen to him.  This is a perfect example of how God uses those who love Him regardless of their cleanliness, background, parents, thoughts of worth, e...

In this passage, we see God once again speaking to Moses reassuring that He sees and understand the conditions of the Israelites as they are enslaved by the Egyptians, but His promise is true.  The people did not listen as Moses tried to assure them that God would lead them from Egypt into the Promised Land.  God prompted Moses to go to Pharaoh once again asking that the people of Israel be brough...

The Israelites spoke truth to the situation they were now encountering.  Do you blame them for calling out Moses and Aaron?  What would you have done?  Even Moses turned to the Lord and questioned why he had been sent before Pharaoh only for the Israelites to endure more evil and punishment.  Thankfully Moses turned to God first even if it was in a questioning manner. How often I try to resolve a...

Moses and Aaron obeyed God’s command to approach Pharaoh only for Pharaoh to retaliate causing the Israelites to suffer even more afflictions.  Their fear of Pharaoh not responding in a positive way had proven to be right.  How do you think this left Moses and Aaron feeling?  Do you think they felt responsible for the Israelites’ pain?  They had followed God’s exact commands and yet Pharaoh impose...

This makes me want to shout, “Hallelujah!” Not only are Moses and Aaron reunited, but God also fulfills his promise to Moses.  I love how the people of Israel believed Moses, were touched that GOD had seen them in their affliction, and then WORSHIPPED!  Yes, God sees us in our affliction.  He is no stranger to pain, hurt and sorrow.  He’s experienced it all.  Our God is not a God of coincidence. ...

These verses can be very confusing.  It is difficult sometimes to understand why God does what He does.  Why would He call Moses to free His people and turn around and try to kill him?  Is God one to change His mind or decide to change His plan midstream?  No way!  God is a consistent and gracious God, but He also demands obedience.  The word “sin” comes from an archery term and means “misses the...

This passage leaves me pondering how I would have reacted if I were in Moses’ place.  I can see myself looking around and saying, “Who me?  Did you not see my sister who is smarter, wiser, and more eloquent in speech?  Why me Lord?”  And then my next thought is, hello Moses, it’s God speaking to you!  I’d like to think I would have responded quickly, without question and with pure motives in obedi...

Moses continued to doubt his effectiveness.  What does God ask him to do?  What do you think Moses’ feelings/emotions are during God’s wonders?  How must it have been to actually hear God’s voice?  God gave Moses a final command to carry out if the Egyptians did not believe him.  He was told to take water from the Nile, pour it on the ground and see the water become blood.  As merciful and graciou...

Moses shared his concerns with God regarding how the Israelites might respond to his message.  God graciously shared specific directions on how to carry out his request.  He also reassured Moses that the people would listen to his voice.  God told how he saw the afflictions the Israelites had endured from Egypt and gave the amazing promise of eventual freedom.  He told Moses it would not be an eas...

How often does God ask you to do something and your response is surprise and denial you are capable?  If God asks us to do something, He will definitely give us the ability.  He knows what we are capable of doing and He knows our heart.  Our attitude about working for the Lord is much more important than our skills.  God is the one who gave us every ability we have, so He knows best what He can us...

We see here that Moses is afraid to look at God.  Is it because he fears he will die if he looks at God, or could it be he thinks he isn’t good enough to look at God?  Both are true, but I wonder what was going through his mind.   Does God still speak today?   I haven’t personally seen any burning bushes, but I do feel His prompting often and hear Him speak to me at times.  Why do you think He spe...

Over 400 years have passed since the children of Israel moved to Egypt.  And as we find them here, even in the worst of times, God is there and hears their cries.  He hears our cries.  He knows what we are going through, and He has a plan.  I know sometimes it seems that it takes forever to see Him move the direction we want, and sometimes He moves in a totally different direction, but when He mov...

No matter who is around, our sins will be found out.  Even if we “get away with it”, God knows, and we will be called to account for what we do.  We are saved by grace, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to ask for forgiveness and repent.  Moses ran.  How often do you find yourself running from God when you just don’t want to face what you’ve done?  I know I have done so in the past and it never...

What an amazing story of God’s grace and how He took care of this child that He knew would free His people someday.  How many times do we think something is a coincidence when it is God arranging things for His plan and His glory?  I love it when God shows off and shows what an amazing God He is.  He does it every single day, but so often we aren’t looking and listening for miracles because of the...

We see here that the new king of Egypt feared the Hebrews as they grew in number to the point he was willing to have their male babies murdered.  What do you think he really feared?  Have you ever feared what you don’t understand? Or maybe its change you fear? Can you imagine fearing something or someone enough to murder babies?  Yet that is what we do daily, we just call it a medical procedure.

We see in these verses that things changed for the children of Israel and over time became almost unbearable.  This period of time was 430 years, which might seem like a long time, but for the changes that occurred, I’m sure they felt their lives had been turned upside down.  They were saved from death during the famine, but now they were facing slavery, forced labor, harsh circumstances and as we...

Joseph had never given his brothers any indication that he would go back on his word of peace and forgiveness, but they feared he would do just that.  Where do you think these fears come from?  Why do we so often rely more on our emotions & feelings than on what we know to be true? How can we combat this tendency?

It doesn’t matter how long you know that a loved one is going to die, it is never easy.  We see here that they spent many days mourning for Jacob and followed Jacob’s requests for his burial.  It is interesting that Joseph is the one that carried out his father’s wishes.  Maybe because they had so many years without contact, these last years together were extra special.  They had a bond the first...

Joseph assumed his father was confused when he was giving the firstborn blessing to the second born son, but Jacob knew what he was doing.  He wasn’t confused at all.  God revealed enough to Jacob for him to change the order of blessing.  We can’t always know how God is going to use our children and how our children might glorify God, but God does.  What can we do other than raise our children up...