Wednesday – One Year Bible Study (Exodus 7:14-9:35)

Yesterday was a rainy, yucky day—we pulled out the play dough, read books, tooks naps together and even ordered Chinese take-out for dinner. Our dinner guests were full of grace and were happy just have our company verses a home cooked meal. Thank you Dentons:) And I hear the groundhog didn’t see his shadow…ugh. I need flip-flops. I need t-shirts. I need culdasac fun with bikes on a warm day. But it was great to have a lazy day as we anticipate our new numbers on the waitlist!

I have a yummy treat coming up for tomorrow. SO YUM! Because every post needs a picture or two…here is L-bird showing off that $50 auction find I painted with my 2 magnet memo boards in momma’s “white, bright, peaceful, only clean room in the house”…

On the right side of this room is a little “Frank baby collage” I put together from a few of his newborn pictures (these were captured by my friend Alisha Robertson at www.agrgallery.com…
They are printed on what you call standouts—so they come ready to hang like canvases and you don’t frame them. I thought these images spoke for themselves and a frame might take away from the WOWness of them and the captured moment.

And speaking of moments. Can I just say I LOVE BEING A MOM?! I had the SWEETEST moment with L-bird as I put her down last night. I love night songs. I love to comb my fingers through her hair as I sing to her. I rarely sing songs to my children that I didn’t write myself. They are THEIR songs. They each have THEIR SPECIAL SONG. I usually follow THEIR song with one my heart just feels at the moment. About them and my love for them…or about the Lord’s love for them. There is nothing sweeter than gazing in my children’s eyes as I sing my love and the Lord’s love to them. I wish I could have a picture of Laney’s eyes as she was so full of love as I sang…I could feel our hearts beating and connecting as mother and daughter…sisters in Christ…bestfriends…I love the look of amazement as I sang to her…I prayed the Lord’s protection over her as I sang…and it just amazes me how the Holy Spirit even gave me words as He often does so it even rhymes. (Yes, their momma is a writer…so some of this may come naturally…but I can sense the Holy Spirit with us…and it is such a sweet time of affirmation and love). I love watching all of my children’s faces light up when it rhymes perfectly like they know this song is REALLY a song and it was written just for them. It’s vulnerable, intimate, real…and often they see me tear up as I sing to them. TO THINK that our Heavenly Father loves us EVEN MORE THAN THIS!!! I can’t imagine! Oh that you could hear His singing today. That you would stop and let Him touch your heart. Lay back…listen for His voice today…feel His arms around you…He is singing. A song. JUST FOR YOU.

If there are any new blog readers, it’s never too late to jump in our study! We are following the chronological Bible plan here and you can even sign up for the RSS feed to your google reader here. If you want to follow with us, you just need to mark your start day as January 1.

Chapter 7 – The miracles and signs are performed by Moses and Aaron are ignored by Pharoah as his magicians imitated their miracle. If they had true magical powers–one would think they would reverse the miracles God allowed Moses and Aaron to perform but they could only imitate it. Satan is an imitator of God–but he can NOT reverse what the Lord does or plans to do!

Chapter 8 – The plague of frogs, gnats and flies – The plaque of the frogs comes across the land…can you IMAGINE? Millions and billions of frogs jumping everywhere? Coming in your home? Jumping in your pantries, ovens…on your children and YOU? UGH. Pharoah agreed to let the Israelites go if Moses and Aaron would pray to God and make the plague stop. They prayed. The frogs died (the Lord didn’t just remove them or send them back to rivers and ponds, but he left them dead for the stench to remind them of Pharoah’s disobedience. But once they were gone and they had been delivered of the frogs, Pharoah hardened his heart again.

A hardened heart is refusing to see the Lord and His goodness—seeing clearly the work of the Lord but refusing to submit to Him. Many want deliverence from hard times, but few want to repent and follow Him in both the good and hard time…to be HIS. BUT oh—to be HIS! There is nothing greater! And this chapter has always been a bit mind boggling for me trying to figure out if it was the Lord hardening Pharoah’s heart or if it was Pharoah ignoring God’s call. Free will and predistination…that topic is for another day;) The truth of the matter is God was performing clear signs to Pharoah and his heart remained hard. The Lord was speaking to Pharoah through Aaron and Moses–and Pharoah was refusing to listen.

The plague of gnats and flies…same song–same story. But the magicians hearts are even changed in these and declare these plagues to be the hand of God. But Pharoah’s heart…remains hardened.

Chapter 9 The plague of the livestock – The Lord strikes all the livestock of the Egyptians but spares the livestock of the Israelites…Pharoah’s people now have nothing at all to eat…and his heart remains hardened. The plague of boils…UGH…all over Pharoah’s people…now they are in pain…yet his heart STILL remains hardened. Lastly in today’s reading we have the plague of hail. The Lord was full of grace to give a warning to protect the Egyptians who now believed and feared the Lord—but everything and everyone else was distroyed by hail…but the hail didn’t pour down on the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.

Don’t you know Moses is getting tired by this point and wants to give up? But it is Pharoah’s heart that must be changed. I, too often, pray more for the “Eqyptians” in my life (those who are enduring the pain and hardship) rather than the “Pharoahs”. Today I am praying for the “Pharaohs” who keep children in captivity…there are thousands of Pharoahs out there and many innocent ones hurting at their hand…let us not give up praying for hearts to be changed—and quickly for the sake of those hurting. Open our eyes Lord, use us for your glory and equip us with the works of your hand so your name may be made much of. Amen!