And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died.... Exodus 9. 5,6
God’s timetable is often a mystery. Then sometimes it isn't. For instance, you know that tomorrow, early, the sun is going to rise. You also know that in regular succession the moon will show its full face, that spring is going to happen and winter will also reappear. These events demonstrate God’s precision. They are so precise that we use them to tell time.
Yet in other ways God's timing seems a mystery. When will I die? How long before I find my mate? When should I retire? These questions all have a timely answer but they are not as easily determined as tomorrow’s sunrise. I may want to desperately know each answer; in fact they might consume me. But they are withheld from me.
In the above passage from Exodus chapter nine, Moses goes with God's answer to Pharaoh. It was set. It would happen. It would happen tomorrow; and in this case, tomorrow would come. The response would cost Egypt all of its livestock. Economic ruin.
God gave pharaoh some leeway. He had at least twenty to twenty four hours to change his mind. He had some time to make a decision. He could bow and save the country grief. However, he didn't and lost.
Was pharaoh stupid? Was his destiny fixed. Or was his pride too much to be conquered?
Pharaoh came to his position by birth and was trained for his destiny by Egypt’s best. He was no dummy. He ruled the superpower of the day. In his position all served him as deity. He could not be refused. He had convinced himself that he could not lose. In his mind he controlled his own destiny.
He had built this imaginary world and was confident in it until he met Moses. Moses too was in line to inherit Egyptian power. He too had been trained by the best. He may have been in line for the very throne on which pharaoh sat. Yet, unlike pharaoh, Moses had rejected it all to identify with his people.
However, in that identification Moses also overlooked God’s timetable and took matters into his own hand by killing a man. For that he spent forty years practicing for his forty year jaunt with the Jews.
Like the above mentioned plague that was marked to happen tomorrow and happened, our lives lay before us on a perfectly synchronized timetable. They are set to God’s clock and will tick according to his perfect plan. Though we might not have the exactness of his perspective we can rest in the knowledge that they will run their courses like clockwork.
Will we be pharaohish and ignore God's direction and timing and suffer the consequences or will we awake each morning willing to place our moments in his careful hand. We have an appointment with death that cannot be avoided. What comes after that will come whether or not we surrender to the Master Timekeeper. And, by the way, we will surrender to him! Got the time?
God’s timetable is often a mystery. Then sometimes it isn't. For instance, you know that tomorrow, early, the sun is going to rise. You also know that in regular succession the moon will show its full face, that spring is going to happen and winter will also reappear. These events demonstrate God’s precision. They are so precise that we use them to tell time.
Yet in other ways God's timing seems a mystery. When will I die? How long before I find my mate? When should I retire? These questions all have a timely answer but they are not as easily determined as tomorrow’s sunrise. I may want to desperately know each answer; in fact they might consume me. But they are withheld from me.
In the above passage from Exodus chapter nine, Moses goes with God's answer to Pharaoh. It was set. It would happen. It would happen tomorrow; and in this case, tomorrow would come. The response would cost Egypt all of its livestock. Economic ruin.
God gave pharaoh some leeway. He had at least twenty to twenty four hours to change his mind. He had some time to make a decision. He could bow and save the country grief. However, he didn't and lost.
Was pharaoh stupid? Was his destiny fixed. Or was his pride too much to be conquered?
Pharaoh came to his position by birth and was trained for his destiny by Egypt’s best. He was no dummy. He ruled the superpower of the day. In his position all served him as deity. He could not be refused. He had convinced himself that he could not lose. In his mind he controlled his own destiny.
He had built this imaginary world and was confident in it until he met Moses. Moses too was in line to inherit Egyptian power. He too had been trained by the best. He may have been in line for the very throne on which pharaoh sat. Yet, unlike pharaoh, Moses had rejected it all to identify with his people.
However, in that identification Moses also overlooked God’s timetable and took matters into his own hand by killing a man. For that he spent forty years practicing for his forty year jaunt with the Jews.
Like the above mentioned plague that was marked to happen tomorrow and happened, our lives lay before us on a perfectly synchronized timetable. They are set to God’s clock and will tick according to his perfect plan. Though we might not have the exactness of his perspective we can rest in the knowledge that they will run their courses like clockwork.
Will we be pharaohish and ignore God's direction and timing and suffer the consequences or will we awake each morning willing to place our moments in his careful hand. We have an appointment with death that cannot be avoided. What comes after that will come whether or not we surrender to the Master Timekeeper. And, by the way, we will surrender to him! Got the time?
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