Exodus 7 — Thoughts

What’s Threatening Your Life Right Now?

This chapter gives us the first of the 10 plagues on Egpyt, but what really interests me is what happens just before.

Moses and Arron confront Pharoah, and God turns Aaron's staff into a snake. Awesome! God is powerful. Pharoah should take warning.

But then something unexpected happens. Pharoah's magicians do the same thing!

These men weren't like modern-day illusionists, using mechanical inventions and sleight-of-hand to trick people's perception. The Bible clearly says that these magicians turned their own staffs into snakes by "their secret arts." They had a power of their own, a dark power likely summoned from demons.

I wonder if Moses and Aaron were scared at this point. I wonder if they felt intimidated by this dark magic on display. Could God and Pharaoh be evenly matched?

Of course not. Aaron's snake wins. It wins despite being outnumbered. And it swallows the other snakes whole! Even in the face of real power, God is never evenly matched.

This is important for us to remember when we face challenges in life. Failure? Hardship? Persecution? These are real threats and often beyond our own control. It would make sense for us to be intimidated by them — if we didn't have God on our side.

There is literally nothing in this life that can pull us away from God (John 10:28-29). Nothing can stand up against Him. Nothing can trick or outsmart Him. Nothing can claim what belongs to Him. It's no contest.

That's where we get our peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7) — from the assurance that we are in the hands of the God who always wins.

The God who beat Pharoah in a battle of snakes is the God who goes on to beat Pharoah in a battle for Israel's freedom. And He's the same God who fights for you.

(Originally drawn October 21, 2020)