Moses

I've been reading through Exodus recently. During the first few chapters, I was struck by how much Moses tells God that he (Moses) is inadequate. And how much Moses questions whether God really wants him to do those tasks. I could see myself in Moses. OH HOW MUCH I could see myself. How often I feel weak and inadequate and unusable. But in the end, Moses obeys and is used by God. I want to trust and obey Him also. Obey.

Then the next few chapters describe the plagues. I was struck by Moses' unwavering obedience to God. If Moses questions God here, we don't see it. Through the seesaw of Pharoah's heart alternately hardening and softening, Moses keeps trusting God. He perseveres. He doesn't give up. I want to have this same perseverance. As our pastor said in church on Sunday, I want to keep trusting God and know that He alone is God, even when things don't turn out the way I thought they would. Persevere.

As I read through the descriptions of the plagues, my stomach turned at how unpleasant they must have been. How much damage they did. No water - only blood. (yuck!) Dead frogs & livestock. (yuck!) Gnats & Flies. (yuck!) Boils. (yuck!) Hail. (yuck!) And then the locusts. I don't think I completely understood this plague until I experienced cicadas. Growing up in NYS, we didn't have cicadas (at least not as far as I know or remember). But then my first year teaching in Ohio, I got to experience the seventeen year wonder of cicadas. They were EVERYWHERE. They were LOUD. They were ANNOYING. I can only imagine how much more intense - how much worse - the plague of the locusts was. And yet Pharoah did not give in. What a stubborn, selfish man. He obviously did not love his people. Think of how much his people must have been suffering, but yet he didn't give in. All because he didn't want the Israelites to worship God. He didn't want to admit that God really was the Great I Am. That God was God and he was not. How thankful I am that God is God and that He loves me selflessly and unconditionally. Selfless love.