Tag Archives: pharaoh

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Expect Opposition

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Then Moses went back to the LORD and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!” —Exodus 5:22–23

Sometimes we think that when we are in the will of God, it always will be smooth sailing. But I have found that the opposite is usually the case. When I am in the will of God, I brace myself for opposition. I almost see it as a confirmation that I am doing the will of God. In fact, if there is no opposition, I start to wonder what I am doing wrong.

When God sent Moses back to Egypt after 40 years in the desert, Moses probably was hoping that he could walk in, say what he had to say to Pharaoh, and hear him reply, “No problem. Go for it. Everything is good.”

But that isn’t what happened. Rather, Pharaoh answered, “And who is the LORD? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2).

Then Pharaoh made things worse. He told the Israelite foremen that obviously the people had too much time on their hands because they had this guy Moses coming in and asking for their release. He instructed them to no longer give them straw to hold their bricks together. They would have to get their own straw but still make their quota of bricks.

When the leaders of Israel found out, they said to Moses, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!” (verse 21). Effectively it was a complete disaster.

Don’t be discouraged if you have tried to serve the Lord or do something for His glory and discovered that people are not supporting you—or are even harassing you. That is exactly what happened to Moses.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Strength in Stillness

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Read: Exodus 14:10-14

Bible in a Year: Ezra 1-2; John 19:23-42

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. —Isaiah 30:15

Early in my Christian life the demands of commitment made me wonder if I could make it past a year without returning to my old sinful ways. But this Scripture verse helped me: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exod. 14:14 niv). These are the words Moses spoke to the Israelites when they had just escaped from slavery in Egypt and were being pursued by Pharaoh. They were discouraged and afraid.

As a young believer, with temptations engulfing my world, this call “to be still” encouraged me. Now, some 37 years later, remaining still and calm while trusting Him in the midst of stress-laden situations has been a constant desire for my Christian living.

“Be still, and know that I am God,” the psalmist says (Ps. 46:10). When we remain still, we get to know God, “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (v. 1). We see our weakness apart from God and recognize our need to surrender to Him. “When I am weak, then I am strong,” says the apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:10).

Daily we grind through stress and other frustrating situations. But we can trust that He will be faithful to His promise to care for us. May we learn to be still. —Lawrence Darmani

Sometimes the hectic demands on your day can crowd out your time with God. Find out how you can develop a regular time of Bible reading and prayer. Read In His Presence at http://www.discoveryseries.org/q0718

The Lord may calm your storm, but more often He’ll calm you.

INSIGHT: After Pharaoh set the Jews free from slavery (Ex. 12:28-33), he immediately had a change of heart and summoned his elite army to recapture them (14:5-9). Although God had overwhelmingly demonstrated His great power through the 10 plagues (Ex. 7-11), the Jews chose not to trust in Him. Terrified, they accused Moses of deceiving them and leading them into the wilderness to die (14:11-12). But Moses encouraged them not to be afraid and to be still and trust the Lord (vv. 13-14). God was faithful and saved them from Pharaoh’s army (vv. 21-23), and He continued to provide for them during their 40 years in the wilderness.

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – How Waiting Prepares Us

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But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. —Genesis 39:21

Joseph had been doted on by his father, sold by his brothers into slavery, bought by Potiphar, and eventually promoted to manage Potiphar’s entire household. He was doing a great job. Then he was falsely accused of rape and thrown into prison.

But Genesis 39:21 tells us, “The LORD was with Joseph.”

In typical Joseph fashion, he was so diligent and hardworking that he was soon running the place. Enter the butler and the baker. They had been working for Pharaoh, but now they were in prison. Joseph saw them one day and basically said, “Hey guys, why are you so sad? Why the long faces?” That’s an amazing statement for someone in a dungeon to make to other people in a dungeon. But there was a cheerfulness about Joseph. He was always thinking of others.

So the butler and the baker told Joseph about the dreams they had. Joseph told them, “Interpreting dreams is God’s business. . . . Go ahead and tell me your dreams” (Genesis 40:8).

The butler was the first to explain his dream to Joseph. Then Joseph said, “Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer. And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place” (verses 13–14). But two years passed before the butler remembered Joseph.

Has it ever seemed as though you were just spinning your wheels and not going anywhere? How easily Joseph could have felt that way. Yet we never read of him complaining, even for a moment.

Joseph’s life serves as a reminder that everything we go through is preparation for something else. God is preparing each of us for something.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – He Will Tell You What’s Ahead

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He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. – John 16:13

One of the many benefits of hearing from God is that listening to His voice helps us prepare for the future. The Holy Spirit gives to us the messages the Father gives to Him, and He often tells us things that will happen in the future.

We find many instances in the Bible in which God spoke to people and gave them information about the future. He told Noah to prepare for a flood that would come to destroy the people of the earth (see Genesis 6:13–17). He told Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask for the release of the Israelites and that Pharaoh would not grant this request (see Exodus 7). Obviously, God does not tell us everything that will happen in the future, but His Word promises He will tell us some things.

There are times when I sense that something good, or perhaps something challenging, is going to happen. When a challenge awaits me and I have some prior knowledge of it, that knowledge helps to cushion the blow when the difficult situation comes. If an automobile with good shock absorbers hits a pothole, those absorbers protect passengers in the car from the jarring impact that would result and no one gets hurt. God’s giving us information ahead of time works the same way.

Part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to tell us things to come. He knows the mind of God and He knows God’s individual plans for our lives. He will reveal what we need to know when we need to know it in order to fulfill the good plans God has for us.

God’s word for you today: Trust the Holy Spirit to tell you what you need to know about the future.

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – He Will Tell You What’s Ahead

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He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. – John 16:13

One of the many benefits of hearing from God is that listening to His voice helps us prepare for the future. The Holy Spirit gives to us the messages the Father gives to Him, and He often tells us things that will happen in the future.

We find many instances in the Bible in which God spoke to people and gave them information about the future. He told Noah to prepare for a flood that would come to destroy the people of the earth (see Genesis 6:13–17). He told Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask for the release of the Israelites and that Pharaoh would not grant this request (see Exodus 7). Obviously, God does not tell us everything that will happen in the future, but His Word promises He will tell us some things.

There are times when I sense that something good, or perhaps something challenging, is going to happen. When a challenge awaits me and I have some prior knowledge of it, that knowledge helps to cushion the blow when the difficult situation comes. If an automobile with good shock absorbers hits a pothole, those absorbers protect passengers in the car from the jarring impact that would result and no one gets hurt. God’s giving us information ahead of time works the same way.

Part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to tell us things to come. He knows the mind of God and He knows God’s individual plans for our lives. He will reveal what we need to know when we need to know it in order to fulfill the good plans God has for us.

God’s word for you today: Trust the Holy Spirit to tell you what you need to know about the future.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Accepting God’s Provisions

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John MacArthur

“By faith [Moses] kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the first-born might not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned” (Heb. 11:28-29).

The man or woman of faith gratefully accepts all God’s provisions, no matter how pointless some of them may seem.

When the time came for Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, everything on the human level said it couldn’t be done. Pharaoh wasn’t about to let two to three million slaves just pack up and leave. His formidable army was ready to insure that no such exodus occurred.

But when God devises a plan, He always makes the necessary provisions for carrying it out. On this occasion, His provision came in the form of ten terrifying plagues designed to change Pharaoh’s mind.

The tenth and worst plague was the death of all the first- born (Ex. 11:5). To protect themselves from this plague, the Israelites sprinkled the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. When the angel of death saw the blood, he passed over that house. Thus the Passover was instituted.

The blood from those first Passover lambs had no intrinsic power to stave off the death angel, but its presence demonstrated faith and obedience, thus symbolizing the future sacrifice of Christ (cf. John 1:29).

Pharaoh got the message and allowed the Israelites to leave. But soon afterward he changed his mind and commanded his army to pursue them. Again God intervened by parting the Red Sea, allowing His people to walk across on dry land. He then drowned the entire Egyptian army when it followed the Israelites into the sea.

That was a graphic demonstration of a lesson every believer must learn: God’s provisions are always best. They may sometimes seem foolish to the human intellect—just as “the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:18)—but the man or woman of faith trusts God and receives His provisions gratefully.

Suggestions for Prayer; Thank God for the wise and gracious provisions He has made for your salvation and ongoing Christian walk.

For Further Study; Read the account of the Passover and the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 11-14.

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Israel in Egypt

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CharlesSpurgeon

“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Revelation 15:3

Suggested Further Reading: Exodus 15:1-18

One part of the song of Moses consisted in praising the ease with which God destroyed his enemies. “Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.” If we had gone to work to destroy the hosts of Pharaoh, what a multitude of engines of death should we have required. If the work had been committed to us, to cut off the hosts, what marvellous preparations, what thunder, what noise, what great activity there would have been. But mark the grandeur of the expression. God did not even lift himself from his throne to do it: he saw Pharaoh coming; he seemed to look upon him with a placid smile; he did just blow with his lips, and the sea covered them. You and I will marvel at the last how easy it has been to overthrow the enemies of the Lord. We have been tugging and toiling all our lifetime to be the means of overthrowing systems of error: it will astonish the church when her Master shall come to see how, as the ice dissolveth before the fire, all error and sin shall be utterly destroyed in the coming of the most High. We must have our societies and our machinery, our preachers and our gatherings, and rightly too; but God will not require them at the last. The destruction of his enemies shall be as easy to him as the making of a world. In passive silence unmoved he sat; and he did but break the silence with “Let there be light” and light was. So shall he at the last, when his enemies are raging furiously, blow with his winds, and they shall be scattered.

For meditation: Creation took God a matter of a few days; the destruction of a great power will take him only a fraction of the time (Revelation 18:8,10,17,19).

Sermon no. 136

14 June (1857)

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All Kinds Of Help

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Our Daily Bread

Genesis 41:46-57

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.” —Genesis 41:39

In the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, many people have felt strongly compelled to help. Some donated blood for the injured, some provided free lunches and coffee at their restaurants for workers. Others wrote letters of comfort or just gave hugs. Some sent gifts of money and teddy bears for the children; others offered counseling. People found ways to serve according to their personalities, abilities, and resources.

A story in the Bible about Joseph tells how he used his skills to play an important role in helping people survive a 7-year famine (Gen. 41:53-54). In his case, he could prepare beforehand because he knew a difficult time was coming. After Joseph warned Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, that the lean years were coming, Pharaoh put him in charge of the 7-year preparation time. Joseph used wisdom and discernment from God to get his country ready (41:39). Then, when “the famine was over all the face of the earth, . . . Joseph opened all the storehouses” (v.56). He was even able to help his own family (45:16-18).

These stories show the heart of God for the world. He has prepared us and made us who we are that we might care for others in whatever way He leads us. —Anne Cetas

Lord, help me feel the hurt that others feel

When life inflicts some bitter pain,

And use me in some loving way to heal

The wounds that may through life remain. —D. DeHaan

Compassion offers whatever is necessary to heal.

Bible in a year: 2 Samuel 1-2; Luke 14:1-24

Insight

Although Joseph suffered many injustices, God ultimately used him to help others by empowering him to provide food for those who otherwise would have starved. This principle applies to the believer even today. God can help us persevere in our suffering so that we can help others who are in need in the future. In the New Testament, Paul tells us that we experience pain and God’s comfort in order to comfort others (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Out Of Chaos

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Our Daily Bread

Exodus 8:1-15

Speak evil of no one, . . . be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. —Titus 3:2

Everything I observe makes me believe this is true: Order is not natural. When I consider my office, I’m astounded at how quickly it descends into chaos and how long it takes me to restore order. Order requires intervention; it does not happen naturally.

I shouldn’t be surprised. God’s role in bringing order out of chaos is a prominent biblical theme. He did it when He was creating the nation of Israel (Ex. 7–14). When God said it was time to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Pharaoh objected. His nation’s economy depended on the Hebrew workers, so Pharaoh didn’t want to lose them. To change Pharaoh’s mind, God sent 10 plagues to convince him. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues. But they could not reverse the plagues—any of them. They could cause chaos, but they could not restore order. Only God can do that.

With effort, we can bring order to our living spaces, but none of us can bring order out of the emotional and spiritual chaos of our lives. Only God can do that. He restores order to chaotic situations when we live as God intended—speaking no evil, being peaceable and gentle, and showing humility to all (Titus 3:2). —Julie Ackerman Link

Father, our world and our lives do have much chaos

and confusion. We need You to restore our souls.

Help us to live as You want us to live—

loving others.

When we put our problems in God’s hands, He puts His peace in our hearts.

Bible in a year: Joshua 22-24; Luke 3

Insight

The Egyptian magicians could only mimic three of the miracles of Moses—staffs turned into serpents (Ex. 7:11), water turned to blood (7:22), and the frog plague (8:7). Unable to mimic the remaining plagues (8:16–11:10), the magicians acknowledged that they were from “the finger of God” (8:19).

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Bricks Without Straw

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Our Daily Bread

Exodus 6:1-13

I will rescue you . . . , and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. —Exodus 6:6

Many of us face the challenge of working with limited resources. Equipped with less money, less time, dwindling energy, and fewer helpers, our workload may remain the same. Sometimes, it even increases. There’s a saying that sums up this predicament: “More bricks, less straw.”

This phrase refers to the Israelites’ hardship as slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh decided to stop supplying them with straw, yet he required them to make the same number of bricks each day. They scoured the land to find supplies, while Pharaoh’s overseers beat them and pressured them to work harder (Ex. 5:13). The Israelites became so discouraged that they didn’t listen when God said through Moses, “I will rescue you . . . , and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (6:6).

Although the Israelites refused to hear God’s message, God was still guiding and directing Moses, preparing him to speak to Pharaoh. God remained firmly on Israel’s side—at work behind the scenes. Like the Israelites, we can become so downhearted that we ignore encouragement. In dark times, it’s comforting to remember that God is our deliverer (Ps. 40:17). He is always at work on our behalf, even if we can’t see what He is doing. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Lord, please help me to trust You despite my

discouragement. I invite You to fill me with

hope through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Let my life testify of Your faithfulness.

Times of trouble are times for trust.

Bible in a year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36

 

Charles Stanley, Uncategorized

Charles Stanley – How We Can Have Peace

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Charles Stanley

Genesis 41:1-32

In Genesis 41, there’s an interesting story about a powerful king who had two unusual dreams in the same night. Because the dreams appeared to have some significance—and because the king couldn’t understand their meaning—he was troubled in his spirit. Consequently, he called for his magicians to interpret the dreams, but when they were unable to produce explanations, the monarch’s anxiety increased.

Then he summoned Joseph, who calmed the king with these words: “God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (v. 16 kjv). Interestingly, the Lord did not actually promise every aspect of the dreams would be explained, but rather He offered a “peaceable” answer.

As it happened, God did choose to explain this particular dream in great detail, but that isn’t always the case. Too often, we lose our peace when the Lord gives direction or correction coupled with very little explanation.

Jesus had numerous “hard sayings” that were never explained to His followers’ satisfaction. It bothered some of them to the point that “many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). They simply were not satisfied with Jesus’ partial explanations.

In Christian service, we want every- thing explained: Where am I to go? What will I be paid? Who will go with me? In God’s timing, some of these questions may be answered. In the meantime, however, peace rests not in explanations but in the One who is Himself our peace (Eph. 2:14).