Exodus: Chapter 8

The revelations continue:  God's glory and mercy; the inadequacy of the Egyptian gods and the real essence of the Pharaoh's nature.  One week passed and Moses was sent back to the Pharaoh with the same message:  let my people go that they may serve me or that which you worship will become a curse.  That message still stands today.

The Pharaoh, though, wanted the service of the Israelites for his own purposes.  Like the Pharaoh, sometimes we prefer our own purposes to God's.  Even when circumstances force us to recognize our limits, we still try to negotiate our own way.  The temptation to seek a compromises afflicts all of us; the Pharaoh's first suggestion was 'serve Him here' and then later 'don't go too far.'  God wants all of our hearts and He did not have Moses accept those compromises.  As individuals, as churches, we need to search our hearts and ask God if we are negotiating compromises.  True freedom in Christ is not a life of compromise.  Finally, it struck me, too, that when Pharaoh acknowledged the need for Moses' help, he did not ask for immediate respite.  Instead, he said ask God 'tomorrow'--I suspect the hope was still lurking that he would be able to take care of the matter himself.   There is no good reason to delay turning to God;  the time is now! 

The 'gods' of Egypt were many; the Egyptians believed there was a great God but he was too busy to care about the details.  This 'great God' was believed to delegate his control to others--those were the gods the Egyptians worshipped.  Proverbs tells us that a rebellious nation has many rulers; false gods do become merciless rulers.  The True God is a 'jealous' God and He wants us to see Him in all His glory.  Every plague targeted a false god for a distinct purpose:  that all might see and serve Him.  God is not jealous because He is an ego-maniac but because He is a good God who longs for us to have the best.  It is important to note, too, that the Egyptian gods -- false gods -- are not powerless; their power though is from the evil one.  The very fact that the duplicated plagues increased difficulties rather than alleviate them reflects the truth that Satan desires to steal and destroy--THAT is why God wants all to recognize Him.  He longs to give and build up!