Author: Dave Dishman (Page 293 of 459)

As shadows set in, an ominous presence worked its way across the land. Called only the destroyer by Moses, this angel of death took the life of every firstborn in Egypt.

What exists in the spiritual realms that we know nothing of?

From this story of darkness, I flipped to Ephesians where I read Paul’s words: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions—it is by grace that you have been saved.

What have I been saved from? Saved from death—saved from the destroyer.

The Lord provided shelter from the destroyer, a way of salvation, for the Israelites and Egyptians who followed him. The Lord made a way for you and me to avoid the destroyer as well.

Both involve a lamb, blood spilled, and the bottomless grace of God.

Exodus 12 & Ephesians 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Abhishek Koli

The 10 plagues that Moses and Aaron and the Lord rained down on Egypt send me squirming in my devotional. All seem terrible, but some seem worse. Which ones do you consider the most awful?

Let’s remove the plague on the firstborn from our list. No house without someone dead lies beyond my imagination. But what about the other nine?

Waters turning into blood

Frogs

Gnats

Flies

Sudden sickness and death to livestock in the fields

Boils

Hail

Locusts

Darkness

Personally, frogs top my list. Boils also sound horrible, but frogs hopping in my oven, frogs sliming my bed, an amphibian peeking from my breakfast cereal? Then all those frogs die in my house and I have to find them and clean them out? Totally gross.

The Lord spared no creativity in reminding Pharaoh and Egypt and the Israelites and the nations around them who controls nature—and their fates.

Good for me to remember next time I see a frog.

Exodus 7-10 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by David Clode

Moses stood before the Lord, trembling at his assignment—confront the most powerful man in the world and tell him to let all his slaves go free. Moses asked a simple question. What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The Lord did not appear to you?”

Then the Lord asked Moses a question. What is that in your hand?

Moses showed the Lord his staff, which the Lord turned into a snake and freaked Moses out. Then the Lord reversed the snake back into a staff when Moses inched forward and grabbed it by the tail.

The Lord showed Moses a few other tricks. God could have gone on all day playing party games of miracles with Moses, but God had plans and needed Moses to understand them.

I join Moses in freaking out when I think about what was going on. The Lord sent Moses into the battle of his life with only a stick in his hands.

The point, of course, is not the stick, but the Lord who manipulates the stick. The Lord can use whatever he wants to meet whatever need I have. He’s the Lord of all creation. Whatever I hold today, God can multiply it tomorrow.

How did Moses respond? He shouldered his stick and headed to Egypt—with clear eyes and newfound confidence in the God behind that stick.

Exodus 4 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Vismay Krishna

Generations after Joseph successfully navigated the nation of Egypt through a crippling famine, a new king rose to power who cared nothing for the study of history.

This Pharaoh feared the abundant Israelite population within his borders, and so he forced them into slavery where they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

As a result of the policies instituted under Joseph, one fifth of the produce of the land belonged to Pharaoh—year after year after year. The land along the Nile, magnificently fruitful, enriched her landlords like few other places in the world.

Pharaoh never knew that a Hebrew created the system making his predecessors and himself fabulously wealthy. It probably wouldn’t have mattered to him anyway, as the rest of the story attests to his hardheartedness. Wonderfully ironic none the less. As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

Sometimes our success leads to problems down the road. Who knew that high fructose corn syrup expanded waistlines until they burst?

Pharaoh held other options besides enslaving the Israelites, good citizens of his country. His actions point out that even in the midst of wild success (or perhaps because of it) we all need wisdom to navigate our futures, and the future of those who follow.

Exodus 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Bradyn Trollip