May the mumbling commence!
How much do we believe in the power of the Word of the Lord? It is an important question. For some of the Egyptian people, the power of the Word of the Lord was beginning to be respected.
After six plagues, some of Pharaoh’s officials believed God when he said through Moses that a plague of hail was coming. The ones who believed brought in their livestock and servants to protect them from the hail. Read from Exodus chapter nine:
“‘So tomorrow at this time I will send a hailstorm worse than any in all of Egypt's history. Quick! Order your livestock and servants to come in from the fields. Every person or animal left outside will die beneath the hail.'"
Some of Pharaoh's officials believed what the Lord said. They immediately brought their livestock and servants in from the fields. But those who had no respect for the word of the Lord left them out in the open.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Lift your hand toward the sky, and cause the hail to fall throughout Egypt, on the people, the animals, and the crops."
So Moses lifted his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. The Lord sent a tremendous hailstorm against all the land of Egypt. Never in all the history of Egypt had there been a storm like that, with such severe hail and continuous lightning. It left all of Egypt in ruins. Everything left in the fields was destroyed – people, animals, and crops alike. Even all the trees were destroyed. The only spot in all Egypt without hail that day was the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived. (Ex 9:18-26)
The Word of the Lord came true just as it always did… and always does. How can anyone deny that this Lord God is the God of the Israelite people? Only the Israelite people were unaffected in the land of Goshen from this plague of hail. So it was true of the Israelite protection for the past several plagues as well! As it was once popular to say, “Here’s your sign!”
God will overcome our unbelief… if we allow him – just as the Lord tried to overcome the unbelief of the Sadducees, who refused to believe in the resurrection. Jesus quotes from what the Lord God first said to Moses in Exodus – “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Read from Matthew chapter twenty-two:
That same day some Sadducees stepped forward – a group of Jews who say there is no resurrection after death. They posed this question: "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will be the brother's heir.' Well, there were seven brothers. The oldest married and then died without children, so the second brother married the widow. This brother also died without children, and the wife was married to the next brother, and so on until she had been the wife of each of them. And then she also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For she was the wife of all seven of them!"
Jesus replied, "Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they won't be married. They will be like the angels in heaven. But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead – haven't you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So he is the God of the living, not the dead."
When the crowds heard him, they were impressed with his teaching. (Mt 22:23-33)
Grant us belief… O God of the living… so that we may truly live in you.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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