Exodus 8, Luke 5

Thursday, February 14, 2008 - Brandon Hatmaker

"The arrogance of Pharaoh and the faith of a friend."

(Exodus 8)

“But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.” vs15

If you weren’t reading Exodus straight through, you might not catch how ridiculous the human side of this story is. Over and over, Moses goes back to God and complains because things are not going as he thought it would. Over and over God gives him the next step. Over and over Pharaoh responds (this time favorably). But over and over, eventually Pharaoh hardens his heart and “would not listen” to Moses and Aaron.

In this part of the story, I see a little of myself in Moses, Aaron, and unfortunately Pharaoh as well. In chapter 8, God finally gets through to Pharaoh. It took frogs. He finally responded, “"Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord."

But then things started going okay. Pharaoh “saw that there was relief” and settled into his old ways again. All along, God is trying to get him to do something, something that has major significance, something that could impact a Holy nation.

What is God telling me today that I’m just not hearing? What is he telling you? I wonder if I’ve heard it, but am not “listening”. I wonder what the impact could be beyond what I can see. Who will be negatively affected by my shortsightedness, blindness, or hardened heart? Will it be me? My family? Strangers?

For some reason I’m reminded of Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7 when he said, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”

God, may we not resist the Holy Spirit. Help us to not contend against your leading, instead, helps us to contend for the things of God. As Children of God, as fathers, husbands, and leaders, help us to contend for your ways. For your ways are higher than our ways, and your thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Even more so, your love is greater than our love.

(Luke 5)

Vs. 18-20, “Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

At that point, these men didn’t even know what their need was. They thought it was for physical healing. It wasn’t. Their greatest need was forgiveness. And because of their faith in Jesus, it was granted.

But once again, so many around “missed” the message. So Jesus healed the guy anyway. To show that He truly had the power to both heal and forgive. What was their response? “They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

I hope we take time to soak in the amazing things God is doing around us. Among all the junk in the world, I hope we see the great things he has done. I hope, every now and then, it fills us with awe. These are not the simple pleasures in life. These are the great pleasures of faith. We have a loving God, who is a great God!