Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 11:6-8 "'There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt— worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. (God's judgment has been decreed. Rebellious Egypt will experience unrecoverable loss and death and tragedy, such as they have never known before. But God's deliverance had also been decreed. Enslaved Israel will experience liberating release and freedom such as they have never felt before. The Lord's terrible judgment is always accompanied by His great mercy.) But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.' Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (God's people will be unharmed, so protected and undisturbed that not even their animals would be aroused. The stark distinction between God's judgment and God's salvation is a powerful reminder that He still today marks out a sharp boundary that protects, provides for, and presents a way of escape His people.) All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." (Moses had earlier been told by Pharaoh after the plague of darkness that he would never be permitted to be in Pharaoh's presence or to see his face ever again. Moses will, in fact, not look on Pharaoh again, but it will be because Pharaoh's own people will flock to Moses and beg him to take the Israelites and leave after this last plague. Moses states unequivocally that he will, in fact, depart forever from Pharaoh's presence, but that he will leave Egypt only after this last dreadful demonstration of God's power. Moses' bold assertions remind us that we reign over the enemy, that we exert control over darkness, that we exercise influence over what the Lord has directed us to accomplish.) Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. (Moses, a man who had conquered his youthful impetuousness and anger that resulted in the death of an Egyptian and forty years in the desert, now experiences a consuming and righteous anger against the choices that Pharaoh and his people continue to make, against the evil that clouds their thinking. Moses has learned the right kind of anger, an anger that fuels his mission to follow the Lord's directives for him and his people. The Lord calls us, as Moses has learned, to exercise the emotion of anger that He has give us in the right way and for the right reasons.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874     [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 11:4-6 So Moses said, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. (Because of their continued stubborn rebellion, the final judgment against Pharaoh and Egypt is death, and no one will escape the judgment, from the highest and most powerful to the lowest and poorest. Even their livestock, some of which were worshiped and all of which were part of the wealth of the Egyptians, will suffer the judgment. Though the Egyptians had been warned and had already even suffered severe consequences, they refused to submit to the Lord's command. Such rebellion always results in judgment, always results in death. The death can be a literal, physical death or the death of life as it has been experienced up to the point of judgment, such as the death of relationships, the death of livelihood, the death of good health, the death of a job, the death of any number of things we hold dear.)  There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt— worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.'" (The response to such desperately deep loss caused sounds beyond words, lamentations that burst from the mourner's core. Part of the desperate tragedy is that the judgment had spread beyond the people in power who had refused to obey and to their families, many of them innocent children. The horror of God's judgment is beyond what we can take in. This last plague is a picture of the grave and terrible judgment to which continued rebellion leads and which is its result. His judgment is terrifying and terrible, not to be ignored, but to be avoided at all costs, an escape from which He has mercifully and graciously made possible. Even now, had Pharaoh and his people relented, they would have, could have, avoided this outcome. Today, the Lord provides endless opportunities for us to escape the wrath of sin by simply turning away from sin and turning to Him Who is merciful.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874       [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 11:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. (As extensive is God's mercy and kindness, He marks them with limits. He has reached the point where He offers no more chances for Pharaoh and now directs His people to prepare for this tenth and final plague and for departing the place of their affliction and bondage. The Lord also places limits on the suffering that He allows evildoers to inflict on His people.) After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. (Not only will Pharaoh let God's people go after this last visitation, but he will actually force them out and drive them away. Whereas before, Pharaoh had tried to bargain about whom and what he would let go, about how long he would let the people go, and about where they would be permitted to go, now he will expel the Israelites and all their belongings and livestock. The phrase when he does actually refers to the practice of sending away a bride laden with her dowry to the waiting arms of her bridegroom bringing with her gifts to present to him. What a beautiful picture of the Lord releasing Israel and us His bride to Himself as we bring with us the fruits of our offering to Him out of the life from which He calls us.) Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." (The Lord, even in Israel's release to freedom, will not allow His people to leave empty-handed. The people's dowry price will actually come from Egypt. He instructs them to ask their overlords for vessels and articles of value, both as their latest pay up to this time of departure and for what would be needed and used in their sacrifices and feasts in the worship to which they were being released. For us today, we see how the Lord causes the world to favor His people and to provide us our due recompense for labor completed.) (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.) (The Lord had caused Moses to be respected by the Egyptians, both because they saw the power from God in which he walked, because they were saw that Moses prayed for the plagues to be stopped and had saved them and their livestock, and because they wanted to retain his favor so that further harm would not come to them. The Lord is the source of our favor and causes us to be favored even by the world. The Lord generates what would seem an impossible attitude from the world toward us as He causes us to prosper in unimaginable ways even in the midst of turmoil and trial.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874       [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 10:21-23 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt." (Unlike the third and sixth plagues, the others had been announced before they happened. However, the Lord does not instruct Moses to first notify Pharaoh of this ninth plague. Instead, He simply orders the execution of it. Having warned Pharaoh eight times before, He now causes an impenetrable darkness to descend on Egypt, a darkness that reflected Pharaoh's hard heart and closed-mindedness, a darkness that would be palpable, a darkness like cave darkness, total and oppressive, black and relentless, what we might call thick darkness. This darkness would also be a direct affront to the sun god Ra that the Egyptians worshiped, showing Ra's helplessness and that the Lord was sovereign. When we place our trust in anything or anyone other than the Lord God Almighty, we, too, experience an encompassing darkness of the soul that affects us throughout the whole of our lives.) So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. (This darkness would be so pervasive that, according to some scholars, light could not exist even in the day, even from candles or fires. The Egyptians were truly in a consuming blackout. As frightening as is a prolonged stay in the depths of a cave without light, so the Egyptians experienced terrifying darkness. This darkness could have been from a severe sandstorm that would make the darkness literally a felt thing as the dust particles blasted and swirled against the people. The storm of darkness could also have been accompanied by thick fogs and dense vapors in the air making it impossible to see. Yet, God's people were spared. Here is a promise for us today: even when darkness reigns around us the Lord protects us with His light that penetrates even the darkest blackness.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874       [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 10:3-6 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? (The Lord is about to punish Pharaoh and Egypt with the eighth plague as He confronts Pharaoh with the truth of the man's lack of submission. Pharaoh is a picture of our arrogance as even believers still discover places in our lives where we fail to humble ourselves before the Lord, where we fail to obey His Word, and, by so doing, fail to worship Him in the fullness and truth that He requires.) Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. (Here is the Lord's pronouncement to us, first, that we are His people, that we do not belong to the world or its powers, but that we belong to Him and to Him only. Second, that He calls us, as His people, to worship Him and to worship Him, not in our own ways, or the way we design, but in the fullness of the ways He requires.) If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. (When our rebellion continues, the Lord's recourse is to allow us to experience the breadth of our disobedience. Pharaoh is also a picture of the effect that one person's actions has on others. The results of our sin do not affect us only, but also are destructive to those around us.) They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians —something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.'" (The word locust occurs several times in the Bible. Here its meaning is a reference to multitudinous, that so many insects will invade that they will fill every corner of their lives and will cause complete devastation of any foliage or crops that remained from the earlier hailstorm. This swarm of insects is thought generally, though known, not to be very common in Egypt, but to be an invasion from outside Egypt's borders. Again, when our rebellion continues, we open ourselves to outside influences from the world that bring complete destruction and that fill our lives with emptiness.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874       [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 9:13b-18 "'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me, or this time I will send the full force of My plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. (As Pharaoh's resistance continues, the Lord tells Moses to announce His seventh plague and that not only will the punishments continue, but they will also be even much more terrible. Even when the Lord permits dire circumstances to come against us, His purpose is always to turn our hearts to Him, that we will become so desperate that we finally have no choice but to seek Him. Pharaoh refuses to submit to and learn about God and His sovereign power. When hard times hit, as we pray for the Lord to deliver us, He also would tell us to seek Him to ask what He needs for us to learn from these places.) For by now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. (We can't even begin to fathom the Lord's forbearance and patience toward us. Yet, when we get frustrated with others for their wrongdoing, we yield quickly, and rationalize to ourselves, justifiably so, to judgmental frustration and a desire to get even and to punish them for their mistreatment. Yet, the God of the Universe Who has complete power over us chooses to restrain Himself and to extend mercy instead of judgment.) But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you My power and that My Name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Not because He needs us, not because He needs our praise or obedience or anything else from us, but because of His great love for us, because He knows yielding to Him is the best way for us, the Lord lovingly shows Himself strong on our behalf and against our enemies. Though He could have destroyed Pharaoh at any moment, He has spared Pharaoh to this time because He desires for the people He loves to see Him as Lord and to turn to Him.) You still set yourself against My people and will not let them go. Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.'" (The Lord uses even our rebellion against Him to show His power and strength. We tend to view weather and environment as mere natural events when, in fact, they, too, fall under the directives of God Himself and are used to warn us, to get our attention, to speak to us, of God's mighty power and His desire that we turn to Him. Continued disobedience results in great judgment.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874     [category word for today]

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 9:8-11 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, (The Lord is about to inflict the sixth plague on the Egyptians. As remarkable as it seems, Pharaoh still adamantly refused to obey God and to let God's people go. Though we look at Pharaoh in amazement at his stubborn, foolish, disobedient attitude, how like he is to us, who still today, after repeated messages and words from the Lord, resist and refuse to yield to His Word and His truths in our lives. How often do we do the very thing that we know we should not do. How often do we yield to attitudes and thinking that are built on lies and deception, on such lies as feeling we are justified in holding on to anger, justified in not forgiving, justified in not showing mercy, justified in getting our own way, justified in our attempts to control others for their own good and for our own sense of well-being, as well as many other like kinds of wrong attitudes.) "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land." (The Lord would have Moses use the probable very ashes from the furnaces from which the Israelites made their bricks, a symbol of their slavery and bondage. Now the Egyptians would suffer the result of their own stronghold of control over God's people. When we continue to stubbornly refuse to align ourselves with the Lord's commands, the Lord may allow the very core of our disobedience to turn back on us to afflict us and our possessions even as He did with Pharaoh.) So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. (The Lord only allows evil and disobedience for a certain time, and then He executes a boundary line with serious consequences with the purpose always in mind to position us so that we turn to Him. Like the third plague, this plague will attack the people directly. Before, their discomfort had been the result of surrounding conditions. We see the plagues becoming ever more severe as Egypt's disobedience continues. Moses throws the ashes into the air as another affront to the Egyptian gods who could not prevent nor hinder the continuing plagues.) The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. (Not only was this miracle performed in the sight of Pharaoh, but now his own courtiers were so affected they could no longer function. The Lord will not allow His sovereign acts to be moderated or restrained by man's efforts. Only when we yield to Him are we on the right side, the winning side, and only then are we protected from the ways of the world.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874       [category word for today]

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