The Exodus: Part 2

Intro

what is simplest to worship?

the God who is controls all things and he isn’t moved or convinced based on my wants and whims

he acts based upon justice and devotion

most people don’t want real justice and they don’t want someone ruling over them

dealing with a God of love who is also a God of consequences is much more difficult than creating a god for every facet of my life that I can hold in my hand

Hardening Hearts

God will be with Moses and free his people, even if they won’t listen

but his method here is difficult to wrestle with

What does it meant to harden a heart?

two ideas, that Pharaoh will be made to be difficult in the first place, or that God will present Pharaoh with difficulty and a decision that he knows already how his creature will respond

many people and even innocent children will die before the people will be let go

all of this so that Egypt and the world will know that YHWH is God

how could a God who is love do that?

to make complete his judgement of Egypt, to show his devotion to those who call out to him, to let the world know the cost of lives and the supremacy of the one who judges

gods who are and aren’t

there are a ton of different theories and thoughts about how it is that all the different nations and empires came to have their many gods

maybe it was simply easier to control the gods of things you could see

maybe they really were evil spirits

whatever the case may be, God shows himself the Lord of all through the plagues

at the end he will show most of all that he is God over life and death and with this Pharaoh will be broken and let the people go

Application

what gods are you worshipping?

what part of your life are you still trying to hold on to and where is your heart hard?

you can live a stubborn and hard life, just know that you will have to deal with the consequences of that