Todays readings.. Exodus 9, Psalm 62&63, Romans 13&14
The above is not quoted from our readings today, but from the verse in Psalm 148 that we quoted at the end of our thoughts yesterday. We recalled this today as we read of the encounters of Moses and Aaron with Pharaoh. Moses stated the words of God as to what God would do because of Pharaoh’s refusal to let “let my people go.”[Exodus 9 v.2]
Pharaoh said what he would do as a result of the damage caused by the hail. “I and my people are in the wrong … I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer” [v.27,28] But the chapter ends with “… the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go …” So Pharaoh did not fulfil his word!
Now we take special note of what God had previously told Moses to say to Pharaoh, “… this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself and on your servants and on your people so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” [v.14,16].
The proclaiming of God’s name is that his reputation became known throughout the nations of the then known world. So God fulfilled his word! The Bible is full of examples of God fulfilling his word. It is fascinating to read the examples of God’s word in Old Testament times about the coming of the Lord Jesus, first to “bring the good news to the poor … to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” [Isaiah 61 v.1,2] and then in the ultimate time, soon to be fulfilled, what will be wondrously achieved by the return of Christ when “the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.” [v.11]
God and his Son set the example for us; when we give our word, such as in marriage, or at the time of baptism, to fulfil the commitment we have made.
Believers have been given God’s words to keep; they, in a sense, fulfil his word by the way they live their lives. Look at the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 14 v.23. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him.”
We possess the word of God; we read from it every day, it becomes part of us. May that happen so that – our hearts will never suffer hardening, as did the heart of Pharaoh.