Exodus 9

Who is our God?

Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

Exodus 9:20-21

In the seventh plague of hail, God gave the people an opportunity to be saved and told them exactly what to do to stay safe and what He would bring down on the earth. But the difference was not who was told, the difference was who was willing to listen. The people who feared God, the people who believed that God is Lord of Lords, followed His commands. Whereas the people who believed that they are the lord of their own life did not listen. It says in verses 16 and 17 that God raised Pharaoh up and gave him all of this power to do good, but Pharaoh continued to exalt himself rather than to use the power that he was given to humble himself and to serve other people. If we think about what Jesus Christ did when He came down onto earth and lived His perfect life, He served people. He had so much power. God raised Him up. He was God in the flesh, all the power in the world, and He used that power for the gain of other people. He used that power to die on the cross that we may be with God for eternity in heaven, rather than using that power to build Himself up on earth.

Between the Scriptures and the way that the story unfolds, it is clear that who we see as our God and who we follow as our God determines how we behave. If we believe that we are the lord of our lives, then we will not listen when God tries to guide us. We will exalt ourselves and live a life for ourselves. But when we believe that God the Father, the God of Christianity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, is the God of our lives, when we believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and our savior, we will fear His word and in that fear we will be obedient to what He says. This is because we believe.

When we fear the Lord, when we hold Him as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the God that He is, the creator of the heavens and the earth, we will not fall into the trap of saying this time I have sinned, only to have our heart hardened once again. We will flee from our sins and live a new life.

I think something that can be said about this passage is about our idols. Do we idolize praise? Do we idolize recognition? Do we idolize the following? Do we idolize numbers? Do we idolize our partner? Who is ruling our life and who are we working for? I think sometimes, and I know this can be true for me, my focus and my idol is in something very earthly and fleshly, such as wanting to pursue health and wanting to make sure that I am on this path. Idolizing these things can lead me away from God and lead me to a hard heart, because I am unwilling to see that God is sovereign over my path. I am trying to control my path and using these different lifestyle things as an idol. It is an important reminder that if God is giving us direction, are we fearing that direction and listening to what He is saying? He is providing safety, encouragement, and the guidance that we so desperately long for, but are we willing to see it, pay attention to it, and do what He says? This is a valuable question that I definitely need to meditate on.