Reflections from February 15, 2011

The Pharaoh shows how stubborn he will be by continuing to refuse freedom to the Israelites. Moses asks on behalf of the Lord in Exodus 10:3,
"How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me."

God knows clearly who will serve Him and who isn't, and He wants the Egyptians to know as well. He hasn't been able to convince the Pharaoh yet of this distinction; however, for His final plague, He will show how He differentiates between them and how He is in control of all the forces of nature as well as life and death itself. We read in Exodus 11:7,
"...that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel."
The most significant difference was that Egypt worshipped many gods, but Israel worshipped only the one true God.

Since the last plague was a visit from the Angel of Death, where all first born creatures would die if not protected, Israel had to prepare in accordance with God's instructions. They prepared a sacrifice and used the blood to coat their doorway, marking their home as a haven for the firstborn that were inside. We read in Exodus 12:27,
"It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households."
This memory is still alive today as the Jews celebrate Passover each year. It helps them with each succeeding generation to grasp in a small way what God accomplished in bringing Israel out of Egypt.
These and other traditions are good to have to remind us that all that we are and have we owe to God's grace. If we start to forget, then our children do too.
One tradition where we give thanks to God each year in our house is the present of prayer. Each year, usually around New Year's, we open our prayer box and read what we were thankful for from the previous year and what we were going to prayer for the coming year. And we determine if God's answer to our prayer was "Yes", "No", or "I have a better plan for you, just wait." We then write our new prayers of thanks from the ending year, and our new prayers for the coming year. We do this as a family, and our hope as we say each year, is that our children will continue this tradition in their house when they establish their own.

Blessings to all